Near-Infrared Multipurpose Lanthanide-Imaging Nanoprobes

Optical imaging plays a growing role in modern biomedical research and clinical applications due to its high sensitivity, superb spatiotemporal resolution and minimal hazards. Lanthanide-doped nanoparticles (LDNPs), as a classical category of luminescent materials, exhibit promising photostability, near-infrared (NIR)-excited frequency up-/down-converting capabilities, emission fine-tuning and multispectral features, which have greatly promoted the endeavors of deeper and clearer diagnostics in complex living conditions. This review focuses on the recent advances of LDNP-based multipurpose imaging studies using upconversion, downshifting, lifetime, photoacoustic and multimodal nanoprobes in the NIR (650–1000 nm) and the second near-infrared window (NIR-II, 1000–1700 nm). The principle and design of various functional, activatable, multiplexing or multimodal lanthanide-imaging nanoprobes (LINPs) as well as representative biophotonic applications are summarized in detail. In addition, the future perspectives and challenges for facilitating LINPs to clinical translations are discussed.