Supplementary Information Microscopic inspection and tracking of single upconversion nanoparticles in living cells Fan Wang1*, Shihui Wen1, Hao He1, Baoming Wang1, Zhiguang Zhou1, Olga Shimoni1, Dayong Jin1* 1Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD), Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia (*Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to or ) Section 1: Synthesis of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) 1.1 Synthesis of NaYF4: Yb, Tm nanocrystals NaYF4: Yb3+, Tm3+ nanocrystals with different Tm doping (from 0.5% to 8%) were synthesized according to our previously reported method1, 2. In a typical experiment, 1 mmol RECl3·6H2O (RE = Y, Yb, Tm) with the desired molar ratio were added to a flask containing 6 mL OA and 15 mL ODE. The mixture was heated to 160 °C under argon flow for 30 min to obtain a clear solution and then cooled down to about 50 °C, followed by the addition of 5 mL methanol solution of NH4F (4 mmol) and NaOH (2.5 mmol). After stirring for 30 min, the solution was heated to 80 °C under argon flow for 20 min to expel methanol, and then the solution was further heated to 310 °C for another 90 min. Finally, the reaction solution was cooled down to room temperature. The products were precipitated by ethanol and centrifuged (9000 rpm for 5 min), then washed 3 times with cyclohexane, ethanol and methanol to get the nanoparticles. To get the nanoparticles with desired size or core-shell structure, layer-by-layer epitaxial growth has been employed. The shell precursors preparation is similar with that for the core nanoparticles synthesis, until the step where the reaction solution was slowly heated to 150°C and kept for 20 min. Instead of further heating to 300 °C to trigger nanocrystal growth, the solution was cooled down to room temperature to yield the shell precursors. For epitaxial
Supplementary Information Microscopic inspection and tracking of single upconversion nanoparticles in living cells Fan Wang1*, Shihui Wen1, Hao He1, Baoming Wang1, Zhiguang Zhou1, Olga Shimoni1, Dayong Jin1* 1Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD), Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia (*Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to or ) Section 1: Synthesis of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) 1.1 Synthesis of NaYF4: Yb, Tm nanocrystals NaYF4: Yb3+, Tm3+ nanocrystals with different Tm doping (from 0.5% to 8%) were synthesized according to our previously reported method1, 2. In a typical experiment, 1 mmol RECl3·6H2O (RE = Y, Yb, Tm) with the desired molar ratio were added to a flask containing 6 mL OA and 15 mL ODE. The mixture was heated to 160 °C under argon flow for 30 min to obtain a clear solution and then cooled down to about 50 °C, followed by the addition of 5 mL methanol solution of NH4F (4 mmol) and NaOH (2.5 mmol). After stirring for 30 min, the solution was heated to 80 °C under argon flow for 20 min to expel methanol, and then the solution was further heated to 310 °C for another 90 min. Finally, the reaction solution was cooled down to room temperature. The products were precipitated by ethanol and centrifuged (9000 rpm for 5 min), then washed 3 times with cyclohexane, ethanol and methanol to get the nanoparticles. To get the nanoparticles with desired size or core-shell structure, layer-by-layer epitaxial growth has been employed. The shell precursors preparation is similar with that for the core nanoparticles synthesis, until the step where the reaction solution was slowly heated to 150°C and kept for 20 min. Instead of further heating to 300 °C to trigger nanocrystal growth, the solution was cooled down to room temperature to yield the shell precursors. For epitaxial