ENHANCED INFRARED RAY ABSORBING/EMITTING NANOPARTICLES AND ON-SITE DIAGNOSIS KIT USING SAME

• US 20190324027A1
• Filed: 03/06/2018
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
• Original Assignee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
• Inventors: Lee, Joon Seok, Lee, Seok, Choi, Man Ho, PYO, Hee Soo, KIM, Seung Ki, KIM, Jae Young
• Granted Patent: US 11,320,425 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 11/02 Use of particular materials as binders, particle coatings or suspension media therefor
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 11/77 containing rare earth metals
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 11/7766 containing two or more rare earth metals
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3577 for analysing liquids, e.g. polluted water
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/54306 Solid-phase reaction mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/54346 Nanoparticles
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/54388 based on lateral flow
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/558 using diffusion or migration of antigen or antibody immunochromatographic test strips G01N33/54387
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/587 Nanoparticles

Abstract

Disclosed is a diagnostic kit for quickly diagnosing a target material with high sensitivity using nanoparticles that absorb infrared light and emit infrared light, in which the nanoparticles are maintained in particle size and have enhanced emission intensity.

Claims

1. Nanoparticles, doped with a rare earth element and a heterogeneous dopant and absorbing infrared light and emitting infrared light.

3. The nanoparticles of claim 1, wherein emission intensity of the nanoparticles is controlled by adjusting a kind or concentration of the heterogeneous dopant.

4. The nanoparticles of claim 1, wherein the rare earth element includes at least one selected from the group consisting of Y, Er, Yb, Tm and Nd.

5. The nanoparticles of claim 1, wherein the rare earth element includes 50 mol % of Y, 48 mol % of Yb and 2 mol % of Tm.

6. The nanoparticles of claim 1, wherein the heterogeneous dopant includes at least one selected from the group consisting of Ca, Si, Ni and Ti.

7. The nanoparticles of claim 1, wherein the nanoparticles are configured such that a wavelength of infrared light that is absorbed and a wavelength of infrared light that is emitted are different from each other so that there is no interference between infrared light that is absorbed and infrared light that is emitted.

8. The nanoparticles of claim 1, wherein the nanoparticles absorb infrared light having a wavelength of 960 to 980 nm and emit infrared light having a wavelength of 750 to 850 nm.

9. The nanoparticles of claim 1, wherein the nanoparticles include a core layer comprising particles doped with a rare earth element and a shell layer surrounding the core layer to thus reduce surface defects so as to improve surface uniformity and further doped with a heterogeneous dopant.

10. The nanoparticles of claim 9, wherein the nanoparticles further include a coating layer formed on an outer surface of the shell layer through coating with a monomer or a polymer to thus increase dispersibility of the nanoparticles in a fluid and facilitate immobilization of a capture agent.

11. The nanoparticles of claim 10, wherein the core layer is provided in form of nanoparticles by mixing 1-octadecene, oleic acid and a rare earth element to afford a homogenous solution, which is then mixed with methanol containing sodium hydroxide and ammonium fluoride, stirred, and allowed to react at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined period of time, and

the shell layer is formed at a predetermined thickness on the core layer by mixing 1-octadecene, oleic acid, a rare earth element and a heterogeneous dopant to afford a homogenous solution, which is then mixed with methanol containing sodium hydroxide and ammonium fluoride and with the core layer, stirred, and allowed to react at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined period of time.

12. A capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate, comprising:

nanoparticles that absorb infrared light and emit infrared light; and

a capture agent binding to the nanoparticles so as to specifically bind to a target material,

wherein the nanoparticles are the nanoparticles of claim 10, and the capture agent binds to the coating layer.

13. The capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate of claim 12, wherein the capture agent includes an antibody or an aptamer.

14. A diagnostic kit, which reacts with a target material by unidirectionally moving a specimen containing the target material, the diagnostic kit comprising:

a capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate specifically binding to the target material and absorbing infrared light and emitting infrared light; and

a second capture agent specifically binding to the target material,

wherein the target material bound to the capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate binds to the second capture agent during movement of the specimen, and

the capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate is the capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate of claim 12.

15. The diagnostic kit of claim 14, further comprising a third capture agent specifically binding to the capture agent.

16. The diagnostic kit of claim 15, wherein the capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate moves together with the specimen, the second capture agent and the third capture agent are immobilized on the diagnostic kit by a predetermined interval, and when the diagnostic kit is irradiated with infrared light, the capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate bound to the second capture agent and the capture-agent/nanoparticle conjugate bound to the third capture agent emit infrared light.

17. The diagnostic kit of claim 16, wherein the second capture agent is immobilized on a test line of the diagnostic kit, the third capture agent is immobilized on a control line of the diagnostic kit, and the test line is located in front of the control line.

18. A diagnostic device, comprising:

a diagnostic kit, and an infrared light reader configured to accommodate the diagnostic kit and to apply infrared light to the diagnostic kit and measure infrared light emitted from the diagnostic kit to thus provide imaged data to an external terminal,

the diagnostic kit being the diagnostic kit of claim 16.

19. The diagnostic device of claim 18, wherein the infrared light reader comprises:

a housing constituting an outer shape of the infrared light reader; and

a controller configured to apply infrared light to the diagnostic kit located in the housing and inserted through an insertion groove in the housing and to measure infrared light emitted from the diagnostic kit to thus provide the imaged data to the external terminal.

20. The diagnostic device of claim 19, wherein the controller comprises:

an interface unit for exchanging information with the terminal, a battery for supplying power necessary for operation of the controller, an irradiation unit for applying infrared light to a membrane of the diagnostic kit located in the housing, an optical unit for photographing infrared light emitted from the membrane after infrared light is applied to the membrane by the irradiation unit, and an image-processing unit for digitizing and outputting a photographed image output from the optical unit.

2. Nanoparticles, doped with a rare earth element and absorbing infrared light and emitting infrared light, wherein the nanoparticles are further doped with a heterogeneous dopant to increase distortion of a crystal structure in the nanoparticles so as to enable sensitive electron transfer.