In the past decade, upconversion (UC) nanomaterials have been extensively investigated for the applications to photomedicines with their unique features including biocompatibility, near-infrared (NIR) to visible conversion, photostability, controllable emission bands, and facile multi-functionality. These characteristics of UC nanomaterials enable versatile light delivery for deep tissue biophotonic applications. Among various stimuli-responsive delivery systems, the light-responsive delivery process has been greatly advantageous to develop spatiotemporally controllable on-demand “smart” photonic medicines. UC nanomaterials are classified largely to two groups depending on the photon UC pathway and compositions: inorganic lanthanide-doped UC nanoparticles and organic triplet–triplet annihilation UC (TTA-UC) nanomaterials. Here, we review the current-state-of-art inorganic and organic UC nanomaterials for photo-medicinal applications including photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), photo-triggered chemo and gene therapy, multimodal immunotherapy, NIR mediated neuromodulations, and photochemical tissue bonding (PTB). We also discuss the future research direction of this field and the challenges for further clinical development.

在过去十年中，上转换 (UC) 纳米材料因其独特的特性（包括生物相容性、近红外 (NIR) 到可见光转换、光稳定性、可控发射带和简便的多功能性）而被广泛研究用于光医学。UC 纳米材料的这些特性使深层组织生物光子应用的多功能光传输成为可能。在各种刺激响应传递系统中，光响应传递过程非常有利于开发时空可控的按需“智能”光子药物。UC 纳米材料根据光子 UC 途径和成分主要分为两组：无机镧系元素掺杂 UC 纳米颗粒和有机三重态-三重态湮灭 UC (TTA-UC) 纳米材料。这里，我们回顾了目前最先进的无机和有机 UC 纳米材料用于光医学应用，包括光热疗法 (PTT)、光动力疗法 (PDT)、光触发化学和基因疗法、多模式免疫疗法、NIR 介导的神经调节和光化学组织粘合 (PTB)。我们还讨论了该领域未来的研究方向以及进一步临床开发的挑战。