Sub-5-nm lanthanide-doped ZrO_2@NaYF_4 nanodots as efficient upconverting probes for rapid scanning microscopy and aptamer-mediated bioimaging

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) is a class of promising probes widely used in protein molecules imaging due to the no photobleaching and non-blinking emission. However, it is still remained challenging to synthesize a type of ultra-small but bright UCNPs. In this paper, a new class of efficient sub-5-nm upconversion nanodots (UCNDs) was elaborately designed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed uniform UCNDs comprise two parts: a 3.5-nm Ln3+-doped ZrO2 core and 0.5-nm NaYF4 shell. The emission intensity of the proposed UCNDs was measured to be more than 10 times brighter than that of the conventional 10-nm NaYF4 UCNPs. Under 300 kW·cm−2 irradiance excitation, the 15 mol% Er3+-doped UCNDs exhibit an 18-fold enhanced intensity and one fifth emission lifetime compared to the 0.5 mol% Er3+-doped ones. Using the biocompatible UCNDs, the aptamer-mediated proteins-targeted imaging was performed and demonstrated high efficiency. These ultra-small, efficient UCNDs would have great potentials in rapid scanning and cellular imaging.