Recent advances in rare earth ion‐doped upconversion nanomaterials: From design to their applications in food safety analysis

Abstract

The misuse of chemicals in agricultural systems and food production leads to an increase in contaminants in food, which ultimately has adverse effects on human health. This situation has prompted a demand for sophisticated detection technologies with rapid and sensitive features, as concerns over food safety and quality have grown around the globe. The rare earth ion‐doped upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP)‐based sensor has emerged as an innovative and promising approach for detecting and analyzing food contaminants due to its superior photophysical properties, including low autofluorescence background, deep penetration of light, low toxicity, and minimal photodamage to the biological samples. The aim of this review was to discuss an outline of the applications of UCNPs to detect contaminants in food matrices, with particular attention on the determination of heavy metals, pesticides, pathogenic bacteria, mycotoxins, and antibiotics. The review briefly discusses the mechanism of upconversion (UC) luminescence, the synthesis, modification, functionality of UCNPs, as well as the detection principles for the design of UC biosensors. Furthermore, because current UCNP research on food safety detection is still at an early stage, this review identifies several bottlenecks that must be overcome in UCNPs and discusses the future prospects for its application in the field of food analysis.

Effects of Rare-Earth Elements Doping on Micro-Structure and Fluorescence Performances of Fluorapatite

“…The fluorapatites (FAps, Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 F 2 ), as a kind of biomedical material, are widely used for the manufacturing of orthopedic implants, dental ceramics, and sustained-release carrier, owing to their excellent biocompatibility [1][2][3][4][5]. Nonetheless, the calcium ion with a fully outermost electron orbital mean that pure FAps cannot emit visible light under ultraviolet excitation, which finally causes it to be not able to be tracked via bioimaging technologies [6,7].…”