Department of Mathematics and Physics, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 2 Chongwen Road, Chongqing 400065, China.
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia 30460, United States.
Inorg Chem. 2022 Apr 4;61(13):5425-5432. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c00432. Epub 2022 Mar 25.
Nowadays, the construction of photothermal therapy (PTT) agents integrated with real-time thermometry for cancer treatment in deep tissues has become a research hotspot. Herein, an excellent photothermal conversion material, BaYO: Yb/Nd, assembled with real-time optical thermometry is developed successfully. Ultrasensitive temperature sensing is implemented through the fluorescence intensity ratio of thermally coupled Nd: F ( = 7/2, 5/2, and 3/2) with a maximal absolute and relative sensitivity of 68.88 and 3.29% K, respectively, which surpass the overwhelming majority of the same type of thermometers. Especially, a thermally enhanced Nd luminescence with a factor of 180 is detected with irradiation at 980 nm, resulting from the improvement in phonon-assisted energy transfer efficiency. Meanwhile, the photothermal conversion performance of the sample is excellent enough to destroy the pathological tissues, of which the temperature can be raised to 319.3 K after 180 s of near-infrared (NIR) irradiation with an invariable power density of 13.74 mW/mm. Besides, the NIR emission of Nd can reach a depth of 7 mm in the biological tissues, as determined by an ex vivo experiment. All the results show the potential application of BaYO: Yb/Nd as a deep-tissue PTT agent simultaneously equipped with photothermal conversion and temperature sensing function.
如今，将光热治疗（PTT）与实时测温技术相结合，用于深层组织癌症治疗的构建已成为研究热点。本文成功开发了一种优异的光热转换材料 BaYO：Yb/Nd，并将其与实时光学测温技术结合。通过热耦合 Nd：F（=7/2、5/2 和 3/2）的荧光强度比实现了超灵敏的温度传感，其最大绝对和相对灵敏度分别为 68.88%和 3.29%K，超过了绝大多数同类温度计。特别是，在 980nm 照射下，检测到热增强 Nd 发光，其因子为 180，这是由于声子辅助能量转移效率的提高。同时，该样品的光热转换性能优异，足以破坏病变组织，在恒定功率密度为 13.74mW/mm 的近红外（NIR）照射下 180s 后，温度可升高至 319.3K。此外，Nd 的 NIR 发射可在生物组织中达到 7mm 的深度，这是通过离体实验确定的。所有结果表明，BaYO：Yb/Nd 作为一种同时具备光热转换和温度传感功能的深部 PTT 剂具有潜在的应用前景。
