Fabrics are on the most valuable real estate in the world-the surface of our bodies. Exposed to troves of data, important health insights would be revealed if only fabrics could compute: sense, store, analyze, infer, alert, and act while retaining their traditional qualities. A fiber-based vision for fabric computing and AI is introduced that can appreciate fabrics into valuable information tracts.

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Thulium/ytterbium-doped yttrium vanadate particles provide a ratiometric thermal response as both colloids and powders via downshift or upconversion emissions. Here, we synthesized yttrium vanadates by controlled colloidal conversion of hydroxycarbonate precursors. A protected annealing process yielded single crystalline and readily dispersible particles that were manipulated individually by optical tweezers in water. Because individual particles displayed detectable emissions, this system has potential applications as a single-particle luminescent temperature sensor. Excitation on Yb3+ sensitizers (λexc = 980 nm) or at vanadate groups (λexc = 300 nm) resulted in Tm3+ emissions that effectively correlated with the temperature of the sample from 288 to 473 K with high relative thermal sensitivity (0.8–2.2% K–1), one of the highest reported for vanadate nanocrystals so far. Different pairs of Tm3+ transitions afford a ratiometric thermal response, which fitted common sensing requirements such as large [3F2,3 → 3H6 (λ = 700 nm)/1G4 → 3H6 (λ = 475 nm)] or small [3F2,3 → 3H6 (λ = 700 nm)/1G4 → 3F4 (λ = 650 nm)] spectral gaps and emission wavelengths at the first near-infrared biological window [3F2,3 → 3H6 (λ = 700 nm)/3H4 → 3H6 (λ = 800 nm)]. Our findings open new perspectives for the use of luminescent nanothermometers with controllable spatial localization, which is a remarkably interesting prospect to investigate microscopically localized events related to changes in temperature.