Upconversion nanoparticles (UC NPs) in combination with plasmonic materials have great potential for cancer photothermal therapy. Recently, sodium holmium fluoride (NaHoF₄) is being investigated for luminescence and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent. Here, we present successful synthesis of excellent quality doped NaHoF₄ NPs for possible UC luminescence application and coated for possible photothermal therapy application. Synthesized NaHoF₄ nanocrystals were doped with Yb/Er and coated with gold, gold/silica, silver and polypyrrole (PPy). XRD, XPS and TEM were used to determine structure and morphology of the NPs. Strong UC photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra were obtained from the NPs when excited by near-infrared (NIR) light at 980 nm. Cell viability and toxicity of the NPs were characterized using pancreatic and ovarian cancer cells with results showing that gold/ silica coating produced least toxicity followed by gold coating.

上转换纳米粒子（UC NPs）与等离激元材料的结合在癌症光热疗法中具有巨大的潜力。最近，正在研究氟化sodium钠（NaHoF ₄）用于发光和磁共振成像（MRI）造影剂。在这里，我们介绍了成功合成的高质量掺杂NaHoF ₄ NP，可能用于UC发光应用，并进行了涂层处理，以用于可能的光热疗法应用。合成的NaHoF ₄纳米晶体用Yb / Er掺杂，并涂有金，金/二氧化硅，银和聚吡咯（PPy）。XRD，XPS和TEM用于确定NP的结构和形态。当被980 nm的近红外（NIR）光激发时，从NPs获得了强UC光致发光（PL）发射光谱。使用胰腺癌细胞和卵巢癌细胞对NPs的细胞活力和毒性进行了表征，结果表明，金/二氧化硅涂层产生的毒性最低，其次是金涂层。