In recent years, considerable efforts have been done to better understand the peculiar emission properties of upconverting materials due to their widespread applications in different and important technological fields such as upconversion-based photoactivated cancer therapies, photoactivated drug-delivery, magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, bioimaging. However, one of the most promising applications of upconverting materials concerns the field of sensing, due to their unique emission properties. In fact, the minimal autofluorescence, blinking, photo-bleaching, and high photostability makes them an excellent alternative to organic dyes or quantum dots. This article reviews the state-of-the-art, design, and sensing strategies of upconversion-based sensing platforms, with special attention to upconverting nanoparticles, as well as how the incorporation of these materials into pre-existing diagnostic tests and bioassays have improved their capabilities for the detection of different kinds of analytes.

近年来，由于上转换材料在不同且重要的技术领域得到了广泛应用，例如基于上转换的光活化癌症疗法，光活化药物传递，磁共振成像造影剂，生物成像。然而，由于其独特的发射特性，上转换材料的最有前途的应用之一涉及传感领域。实际上，最小的自发荧光，闪烁，光致漂白和高光稳定性使它们成为有机染料或量子点的极佳替代品。本文介绍了基于上转换的传感平台的最新技术，设计和传感策略，并特别关注了上转换纳米颗粒，