Eu,Sm,Mn-Doped CaS Nanoparticles with 59.3% Upconversion-Luminescence Quantum Yield: Enabling Ultrasensitive and Facile Smartphone-Based Sulfite Detection.

Eu,Sm,Mn-doped CaS (ESM-CaS) nanoparticles demonstrate a remarkable upconversion luminescence (UCL) efficiency with a quantum yield of nearly 60%, enabling many new applications and devices. We describe an ESM-CaS nanoparticle-based paper test strip for one-shot quantitative measurement of sulfite concentration using a smartphone-based reader. The integrated UCL-based sulfite detection system features high sensitivity and facile operation without the need for separation and pretreatment. Moreover, the design principles are general in nature and so can be tailored for the detection and quantification of a variety of other analytes.