Down-shifting luminescence of water soluble NaYF4:Eu3+@Ag core-shell nanocrystals for fluorescence turn-on detection of glucose

Techniques for detecting glucose are developing at a breathtaking speed because diabetes mellitus can cause many serious complications, such as blindness, high blood pressure heart disease and kidney failure. Herein, water soluble NaYF 4 :Eu 3+ @Ag core-shell nanocrystals for glucose detection with lower detection limit have been successfully developed, using NaYF 4 :Eu 3+ cores as the energy donors and Ag shells as the efficient quenchers through energy transfer. After immobilization of glucose oxidase (GOx) on the surface of NaYF 4 :Eu 3+ @Ag core-shell nanocrystals, the Ag shells can be decomposed in the presence of glucose, accompanied by down-shifting luminescence recovery. The limit of detection of NaYF 4 :Eu 3+ @Ag was 0.12 μmol L −1 . Therefore, the NaYF 4 :Eu 3+ @Ag can be easily extended to the detection of a variety of H 2 O 2 -involved analytes.