Synthesis of polyethylenimine/NaYF4 nanoparticles with upconversion fluorescence

Upconverting materials, which can be efficiently excited by near infrared light and emit strong visible light through a process termed 'upconversion fluorescence', have shown great potential for use in biological labelling and imaging. Some upconverting nanoparticles such as NaYF4 doped with lanthanide ions have been synthesized; however, these nanoparticles are not soluble in water, not biocompatible and do not have functional chemical groups for conjugation of biomolecules, and as a result their bioapplications are very limited unless some surface modifications are performed. Here we report a method for one-pot synthesis of polyethylenimine/NaYF4 nanoparticles doped with lanthanide ions, which are water soluble and biocompatible. The amino groups of polyethylenimine existing on the nanoparticles can be used for attachment of biomolecules. The nanoparticles showed a spherical shape with an average size of about 50 nm. Different lanthanide ions (Yb3+, Er3+ and Tm3+) were doped into the nanoparticles, which showed strong upconversion fluorescence of different colours in aqueous solutions under excitation at 980 nm.