Green Bismuth based upconversion material for bioimaging of cells

Upconversion materials have attracted considerable research interest for their application in bioimaging due to their unique optical properties. Host lattice which are been widely used for upconversion, requires expensive rare-earth elements and tedious reaction conditions. Hence there is a need to develop environmental friendly and cost effective materials for upconversion. In this study, we propose NaBiF₄ as a host material for upconversion which is based on environmental friendly and cost effective bismuth. NaBiF₄ has not been explored as imaging probes earlier. Here, we functionally validate these nanoparticles as viable alternatives to the currently available upconversion nanomaterials and highlight their potential as luminescent nanoprobes for bioimaging.