Single-photon-driven up-/down-conversion nanohybrids for mercury detection and real-time tracking

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2020-01, Vol.8 (4), p.1668-1677
• Main Authors: Seo, Sung Eun, Park, Chul Soon, Park, Seon Joo, Kim, Kyung Ho, Lee, Jiyeon, Kim, Jinyeong, Lee, Sang Hun, Song, Hyun Seok, Ha, Tai Hwan, Kim, Jae-Hyuk, Yim, Hee Won, Kim, Hyoung-il, Kwon, Oh Seok
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ta10921h

A multifunctional assay with up-/down-conversion (UC/DC) nanohybrids which enables the detection and real-time tracking of hazardous molecules has been developed for use in the field of photoluminescence (PL) point-of-care testing due to its cost and convenience. In particular, innovative approaches such as dual or multimodal imaging and detection under only a single-photon pulse system are highly difficult owing to the issues of device simplification and miniaturization. In this work, we first demonstrated single-photon-driven UC/DC dual-modal PL nanohybrids and showed their high performance in in vivo mercury detection and real-time tracking in a mussel simultaneously. Specifically, UC/DC nanohybrids capable of being stimulated by a single photon were presented via a facile and versatile strategy by combining DC fluorophores for heavy metal ion screening with triplettriplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) nanocapsules for real-time tracking. By adopting the advantages of the structural transformation of DC fluorophores and highly stable TTA-UC nanocapsules, the outstanding monitoring performance of a standard heavy metal ion ( i.e. Hg 2+ ) was achieved by a dual-modal PL assay with nanohybrids, exhibiting ultra-sensitivity (under 1 nM) and high-selectivity. Interestingly, their application in the real world was also remarkable in screening and tracking of mercury in mussels. This single-photon-driven UC/DC convergence system will provide powerful analytical methodologies for target detection and real-time tracking in vivo and will attract widespread attention from researchers in the fields of PL nanomaterials and fluorophores. We provided a facile and innovative methodology to detect hazardous molecules using single-photon-driven up-/down-conversion (UC/DC) nanohybrids.