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. 2025 Sep 5;14(1):307.
doi: 10.1038/s41377-025-01976-x.

Water-insensitive down-shifting nanoparticles for sensitive biosensing

Jiang Ming  1 , Sikun Hu  1 , Fan Zhang  2
Affiliations

Water-insensitive down-shifting nanoparticles for sensitive biosensing

Jiang Ming et al. Light Sci Appl. .

Abstract

Conventional optical probes suffer from signal degradation in aqueous media, hindering sensitive biodetection. To overcome this, newly developed water-insensitive down-shifting nanoparticles (WINPs) possess superior photophysical properties in the NIR-I window, including high quantum yield and negligible thermal effects, permitting stable, high-contrast signal generation under low excitation power. This advantage facilitated a low-power lateral flow assay capable of highly sensitive avian influenza virus (AIV) detection in the opaque biological matrices (such as avian swabs), mitigating interference issues relying on visible-range signals.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematics illustrating the advantage of WINPs compared to conventional UCNPs in aqueous environments. a Conventional UCNPs excited at 980 nm suffer significant water absorption leading to signal quenching. b WINPs excited at 800 nm show minimal water absorption, enabling stable 865 nm emission. c Water absorption curve, excitation and emission position of UCNPs and WINPs. d Application of WINPs in a low-power lateral flow assay (LFA) for sensitive detection of biomarkers like Avian Influenza Virus (AIV) in opaque avian swabs
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