Enzymatic enhancing of triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion by breaking oxygen quenching for background-free biological sensing

Ling Huang, Timmy Le, Kai Huang and Gang Han ()
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Ling Huang: University of Massachusetts Medical School
Timmy Le: University of Massachusetts Medical School
Kai Huang: University of Massachusetts Medical School
Gang Han: University of Massachusetts Medical School

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion nanoparticles have attracted considerable interest due to their promises in organic chemistry, solar energy harvesting and several biological applications. However, triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion in aqueous solutions is challenging due to sensitivity to oxygen, hindering its biological applications under ambient atmosphere. Herein, we report a simple enzymatic strategy to overcome oxygen-induced triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion quenching. This strategy stems from a glucose oxidase catalyzed glucose oxidation reaction, which enables rapid oxygen depletion to turn on upconversion in the aqueous solution. Furthermore, self-standing upconversion biological sensors of such nanoparticles are developed to detect glucose and measure the activity of enzymes related to glucose metabolism in a highly specific, sensitive and background-free manner. This study not only overcomes the key roadblock for applications of triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion nanoparticles in aqueous solutions, it also establishes the proof-of-concept to develop triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion nanoparticles as background free self-standing biological sensors.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22282-1

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