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Upconversion Nanoparticles for Thermal Sensing

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Photon Upconversion Nanomaterials

Part of the book series: Nanostructure Science and Technology ((NST))

Abstract

Thermometer has been developed for several centuries from contact to non-contact. With the development of nanotechnology, it becomes possible to use nanothermometry to detect the temperature within a single cell. Upconversion nanoparticle (UCNPs) is one of the promising candidates for developing non-contact nanothermometry. There are several parameters that define the luminescence properties which are dependent on temperature: intensity, band shape, spectral position, bandwidth, polarization, and lifetime. Among these parameters, band shape is the most widely used one. So we introduce the FIR theory which is used to figure out the relationship between the band shape and temperature. We also compare UCNPs with quantum dots, gold nanoparticles (GNPs), and green fluorescent protein (GFP) to show each other’s merits and demerits. We can foresee that UCNPs could be very useful in the near future even though there are still many challenges need to conquer.

Chengli Wang and Fan Zhang contributed together to this chapter.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Fan Zhang

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Zhang, F. (2015). Upconversion Nanoparticles for Thermal Sensing. In: Photon Upconversion Nanomaterials. Nanostructure Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45597-5_10

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