Recent developments in luminescent nanoparticles for plant imaging and photosynthesis

Luminescent nanoparticles (upconversion nanoparticles, carbon dots, silicon nanoparticles and nanophosphors) have the advantages of tunable photoluminescence, good biocompatibility, low cytotoxicity and chemical/physical stability. Recently, the luminescent nanoparticles have been involved in the plant research for imaging plant phenotype and improving the photosynthesis efficiency. Luminescent nanoparticles are applied for the plant imaging in vivo and in vitro, while the plant photosynthesis is dependent on the specific light wavelength, providing the luminescent nanoparticles an opportunity to optimize the agriculture light. This review presents the recent developments of luminescent nanoparticles applied on the plant imaging and photosynthesis and discusses the trend for future research. (C) 2019 Chinese Society of Rare Earths. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.