Recent developments on BW-II and BW-III ratiometric luminescent nanothermometers for in vivo thermal sensing

Abstract

Light emitting materials have emerged as a promising tool for diagnosis and the treatment of health disorders owing to their ability to perform remote thermal sensing and bioimaging. Ratiometric luminescence intensity is the approach commonly used to carry out reliable thermal readouts and we can use it to determine the relative thermal sensitivity and thermal resolution, which grant the materials the quality of their thermometric performance. Despite numerous types of researches conducted in this area, thermal probes have not reached the efficiency desired for in vivo purposes. Physiological environments require the development of luminescent nanoparticles with very specific characteristics for safe in vivo measurements and for efficient luminescence detection. This review highlights luminescent nanothermometers operating in the 2nd and 3rd biological windows (BW-II and BW-III) and describes their optical features, in order to help the scientific community create new strategies to design better luminescent materials for biomedical applications.

Keywords

• Nanothermometry
• Luminescent materials
• In vivo
• Biomedicine