Temperature sensing using fluorescent nanothermometers

Abstract

Acquiring the temperature of a single living cell is not a trivial task. In this paper, we devise a novel nanothermometer, capable of accurately determining the temperature of solutions as well as biological systems such as HeLa cancer cells. The nanothermometer is based on the temperature-sensitive fluorescence of NaYF4:Er3+,Yb3+ nanoparticles, where the intensity ratio of the green fluorescence bands of the Er3+ dopant ions (H-2(11/2) -> I-4(15/2) and S-4(3/2) -> I-4(15/2)) changes with temperature. The nanothermometers were first used to obtain thermal profiles created when heating a colloidal solution of NaYF4:Er3+,Yb3+ nanoparticles in water using a pump-probe experiment. Following incubation of the nanoparticles with HeLa cervical cancer cells and their subsequent uptake, the fluorescent nanothermometers measured the internal temperature of the living cell from 25 degrees C to its thermally induced death at 45 degrees C.