Upconversion Nanoparticles for Other Applications

Abstract

Besides various bio-applications such as biomedicine, bioassay, photon dynamic treatment, and drug delivery, UCNPs have also been used in other applications. They can be explored as a NIR absorber in solar cells because they can absorb NIR light which has been wasted in traditional solar cells. They can be used as sensitizer in photocatalysis due to the energy transfer from UCNPs to the quantum dots or organic dyes. They are considered as next generation anti-counterfeiting materials due to their unique optical properties. In this chapter, the recent progress on other applications (besides bio-application) based on UCNPs is reviewed. As was discussed in pervious chapters, UCNPs have attracted a great deal of attention from researchers because of their potential for optical manipulation in many fields (such as temperature sensors, bio-imaging agents, bio-analysis agents, and optical trigger for nanocapsules in medical therapy) [1-3]. In addition, UCNPs are widely used in light harvesting (for instance in photovoltaic cells and photo-synthesis/photocatalytic reactions) and security applications due to their unique optical properties. This chapter will focus on the applications of UCNPs other than their bio-applications and give a brief review on their mechanisms, manipulative methods, and future development. Rui Wang and Fan Zhang contributed together to this chapter.