Six-photon upconverted excitation energy lock-in for ultraviolet-C enhancement

Qianqian Su; Han-Lin Wei; Yachong Liu; Chaohao Chen; Ming Guan; Shuai Wang; Yan Su; Haifang Wang; Zhigang Chen; Dayong Jin

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-24664-x

Six-photon upconverted excitation energy lock-in for ultraviolet-C enhancement

Nat Commun. 2021 Jul 16;12(1):4367. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24664-x.

Authors

Qianqian Su^#¹, Han-Lin Wei^#², Yachong Liu², Chaohao Chen³, Ming Guan⁴, Shuai Wang², Yan Su⁵, Haifang Wang⁶, Zhigang Chen⁷, Dayong Jin^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. chmsqq@shu.edu.cn.
² Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
³ Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices (IBMD), Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁴ UTS-SUStech Joint Research Centre for Biomedical Materials & Devices, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency of Science Technology and Research, Singapore City, Singapore.
⁶ Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. hwang@shu.edu.cn.
⁷ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
⁸ Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices (IBMD), Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. dayong.jin@uts.edu.au.
⁹ UTS-SUStech Joint Research Centre for Biomedical Materials & Devices, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, People's Republic of China. dayong.jin@uts.edu.au.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Photon upconversion of near-infrared (NIR) irradiation into ultraviolet-C (UVC) emission offers many exciting opportunities for drug release in deep tissues, photodynamic therapy, solid-state lasing, energy storage, and photocatalysis. However, NIR-to-UVC upconversion remains a daunting challenge due to low quantum efficiency. Here, we report an unusual six-photon upconversion process in Gd³⁺/Tm³⁺-codoped nanoparticles following a heterogeneous core-multishell architecture. This design efficiently suppresses energy consumption induced by interior energy traps, maximizes cascade sensitizations of the NIR excitation, and promotes upconverted UVC emission from high-lying excited states. We realized the intense six-photon-upconverted UV emissions at 253 nm under 808 nm excitation. This work provides insight into mechanistic understanding of the upconversion process within the heterogeneous architecture, while offering exciting opportunities for developing nanoscale UVC emitters that can be remotely controlled through deep tissues upon NIR illumination.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Benzofurans / chemistry
Gadolinium / chemistry*
Infrared Rays
Lasers
Nanocomposites / chemistry*
Nanoparticles / chemistry*
Photons*
Singlet Oxygen / chemistry
Thulium / chemistry*
Ultraviolet Rays*

Substances

Benzofurans
Singlet Oxygen
1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran
Thulium
Gadolinium