Poly(Acrylic Acid) Modification of Nd³⁺‐Sensitized Upconversion Nanophosphors for Highly Efficient UCL Imaging and pH‐Responsive Drug Delivery

Abstract

In this work, a simple method is demonstrated for the synthesis of multifunctional core–shell nanoparticles NaYF 4 :Yb,Er@NaYF 4 :Yb@NaNdF 4 :Yb@NaYF 4 :Yb@PAA (labeled as Er@Y@Nd@Y@PAA or UCNP@PAA), which contain a highly effective 808‐nm‐to‐visible UCNP core and a thin shell of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) to achieve upconversion bioimaging and pH‐sensitive anticancer chemotherapy simultaneously. The core–shell Nd 3+ ‐sensitized UCNPs are optimized by varying the shell number, core size, and host lattices. The final optimized Er@Y@Nd@Y nanoparticle composition shows a significantly improved upconversion luminescence intensity, that is, 12.8 times higher than Er@Y@Nd nanoparticles. After coating the nanocomposites with a thin layer of PAA, the resulting UCNP@PAA nanocomposite perform well as a pH‐responsive nanocarrier and show clear advantages over UCNP@mSiO 2 , which are evidenced by in vitro/in vivo experiments. Histological analysis also reveals that no pathological changes or inflammatory responses occur in the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and spleen. In summary, this study presents a major step forward towards a new therapeutic and diagnostic treatment of tumors by using 808‐nm excited UCNPs to replace the traditional 980‐nm excitation.