We study the role of material nonlocality (spatial dispersion) in dynamical Casimir effects in time-varying frequency-dispersive nanophotonic systems. We first show that local models may lead to nonphysical predictions, such as diverging emission rates of entangled polariton pairs. We then theoretically demonstrate that nonlocality regularizes this behavior by correcting the asymptotic response of the system for large wave vectors and leads to physical effects missed by local models, including a significant broadening of the emission rate distribution, which are relevant for future experimental observations. Our work sheds light on the importance of nonlocal effects in this new frontier of nanophotonics.

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• Casimir effect & related phenomena
• Nanophotonics
• Quantum optics