TY - JOUR A1 - Radunz, Sebastian A1 - Andresen, Elina A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Koerdt, Andrea A1 - Rune Tschiche, Harald A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Simple self-referenced luminescent pH sensors based on upconversion nanocrystals and pH-sensitive fluorescent BODIPY dyes N2 - We present the design and fabrication of pH responsive ratiometric dual component sensor systems based on multicolor emissive upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) and pH sensitive BODIPY dyes with tunable pKa values embedded into a polymeric hydrogel matrix. The use of NIR excitable NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+ UCNPs enables background free read-out. Furthermore, the spectrally matching optical properties of the UCNPs and the dyes allow the UCNPs to serve as excitation light source for the analyteresponsive BODIPY as well as intrinsic reference. The blue upconversion luminescence (UCL) of NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+ UCNPs excited at 980 nm, that overlaps with the absorption of the pH-sensitive fluorophore, provides reabsorption based excitation of the dye, the spectrally distinguishable green fluorescence of which is switched ON upon protonation, preventing photoinduced electron transfer (PET) within the dye moiety, and the pH-inert red UCL act as reference. The intensities ratios of the dye’s fluorescence and the analyte-inert red Tm3+ UCL correlate directly with pH, which was successfully utilized for Monitoring timedependent pH changes of a suspension of quiescent E. coli metabolizing D-glucose. KW - pH sensor KW - UpConversion PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b01174 SN - 0003-2700 SN - 1520-6882 VL - 91 SP - 7756 EP - 7764 PB - acs publications AN - OPUS4-48490 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -