Optical and magnetic properties of rare earth Doped α-Fe2O3 for future bio-imaging applications

Abstract

Imaging techniques have been developed for decades for the detection of biomolecules in biomedicine cells, in vitro or in living cells and organisms. The application however, often constrained by the available probes, whose optical properties may limit the imaging possibilities. It is very essential to improve the sensitivity of these devices by enhancing efficiency to detection. Recently, Fe3O4 has been used primarily in cancer theranostic application such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, its toxicity towards normal cells has been pointed out by scientific communities, when they are involved in in vitro (helics) cancer treatment. In this work, we have chosen to use α-Fe2O3, because it has proven to be less toxic than Fe3O4. Hematite is antiferromagnetic (AFM) at room temperature with a small canted moment lying within the crystal symmetry plane. At low temperature, hematite undergoes a magnetic phase transition from weak ferromagnetic (WFM) to a pure antiferromagnetic configuration (AF), which is known as the Morin transition. This magnetic property makes it possible for hematite to be applied in imaging technique. To enhance the optical properties, the α-Fe2O3 is doped with lanthanide ions due to their unique optical properties. Incorporation of these rare earth ions, enable the α-Fe2O3 to have enhance luminescence properties. Imaging techniques have been developed for decades for the detection of biomolecules in biomedicine cells, in vitro or in living cells and organisms. The application however, often constrained by the available probes, whose optical properties may limit the imaging possibilities. It is very essential to improve the sensitivity of these devices by enhancing efficiency to detection. Recently, Fe3O4 has been used primarily in cancer theranostic application such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, its toxicity towards normal cells has been pointed out by scientific communities, when they are involved in in vitro (helics) cancer treatment. In this work, we have chosen to use α-Fe2O3, because it has proven to be less toxic than Fe3O4. Hematite is antiferromagnetic (AFM) at room temperature with a small canted moment lying within the crystal symmetry plane. At low temperature, hematite undergoes a magnetic phase transition from weak ferromagnetic (WFM) to a pure antiferromagnetic configuration (AF), which is known as the Morin transition. This magnetic property makes it possible for hematite to be applied in imaging technique. To enhance the optical properties, the α-Fe2O3 is doped with lanthanide ions due to their unique optical properties. Incorporation of these rare earth ions, enable the α-Fe2O3 to have enhance luminescence properties. These lanthanide-doped nanoparticles (UCNPs) undergoes up-conversion process which have remarkable ability to combine two or more low energy photons to generate a singly high energy photon by an anti-stokes process and hold great promise for bio-imaging. These nanoparticles exhibit excellent photostability, continuous emission capability and sharp multi-peak line emission. With near infrared excitation, light scattering by biological tissues is substantially reduced. α-Fe2O3 have been singly and co-doped with Holmium, Thulium, and Ytterbium by both sol-gel and microwave methods. The doping of these lanthanides have shown improved luminescent properties of α-Fe2O3. The up-conversion has been observed from co-doping Thulium and Ytterbium. This work is a proof of concept to show the up-conversion in α-Fe2O3. However, the up-conversion intensity is low about 200000 CPS maximum observed, this could be due to the nature of the host structure quenching the luminescence. There is rather, a need to increase the intensity for the maximum application to be achieved.