Supporting Information:

Nd3+ Sensitized Up/Down Converting Dual-Mode Nanomaterials for Efficient In-vitro and In-vivo Bioimaging Excited at 800 nm

Xiaomin Li, Rui Wang, Fan Zhang*, Lei Zhou, Dengke Shen, Chi Yao & Dongyuan Zhao*

Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P. R. China

E-mail: and

Figure S1. Spectra profiles of “NIR biological window”.1

Figure S2. Typical absorption spectra of Yb3+ (A) and Nd3+ (B) sensitizers in NaYbF4 and NaNdF4 matrix, respectively.

Figure S3. XRD patterns of the NaGdF4:Nd core, NaGdF4:Nd/NaYF4 (C/S1), NaGdF4:Nd/NaYF4/NaGdF4:Nd,Yb,Er (C/S1/S2) and NaGdF4:Nd/NaYF4/NaGdF4:Nd,Yb,Er/NaYF4 (C/S1/S2/S3) NCs. It was found that the crystal structure of the obtained C/S1, C/S1/S2, C/S1/S2/S3 NCs are all consistent with the structure of the core NCs. In addition, the XRD diffraction peaks become narrow gradually with the growth of shells, indicating that the crystalline domain size increases for the C/S1 (or C/S1/S2 or C/S1/S2/S3) NCs. It can provide another evidence for epitaxial growth of the shells.

Figure S4. DC emissions of the NaGdF4:Nd NCs with different Nd3+ ion doping concentrations at 800-nm excitation.

Figure S5. UC emissions spectra and corresponding photographs of NaGdF4:0.5%Nd,20%Yb,2%Er/NaYF4 (A) and NaGdF4:0.5%Nd,20%Yb,0.5%Tm/NaYF4 (B) NCs under the excitation of 800 nm.

Figure S6. High contrast in-vitro bioimaging using 800-nm CW laser by collecting the NIR emission (> 850 nm) of the obtained NaGdF4:Nd/NaYF4/NaGdF4:Nd,Yb,Er/NaYF4 NCs: (a) bright-field image of human lymphocytes cells labeled with the obtained NaGdF4:Nd/NaYF4/NaGdF4:Nd,Yb,Er/NaYF4 NCs; (B) Corresponding NIR-to-NIR DC bioimaging result under excitation of 800 nm. (D) Merged bright-field and DC luminescence image. (E) Local spectral analysis of a single cell (marked with green square in B) labelled with the NCs.

Figure S7. Temperature distribution image recorded after 10 minutes irradiation under the laser sources of 980 nm (left top) and 800 nm (left bottom) at the same power density (6 W/cm2). (Right) the degree of burns caused by the two laser sources.

Figure S8. Plots of UC and DC emission intensity versus 800-nm excitation power for the 4S3/2→4I15/2 transition (540 nm) of Er3+ and 4F3/2→4I9/2 transition (862, 892 nm) of Nd3+ for the obtained NaGdF4:Nd/NaYF4/NaGdF4: Nd,Yb,Er/NaYF4 NCs.

Figure S9. (A) UC emissions spectra of NaGdF4:Nd/NaYF4/NaGdF4:Nd,Yb,Er/NaYF4 NCs under 980 nm (red line) and 808 nm (black line) excitations, NaGdF4:20%Yb, 2%Er/NaYF4 NCs under 980 nm (A, green line). The spectrums were collected under the same instrumental conditions. (B) UC emissions spectra and TEM image of NaGdF4:20%Yb,0.5%Tm/NaYF4 NCs, which were used in the in-vivo imaging.

References

1.  R. Weissleder, Nat. Biotechnol. 2001, 19, 316.