Issue 35, 2018

Elimination of concentration dependent luminescence quenching in surface protected upconversion nanoparticles

Abstract

Quenching of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) luminescence at high dopant concentrations is an existing challenge that hampers their desired applications. It has already been reported that concentration quenching is strongly coupled to surface quenching. However, in this study we found that surface quenching is not the only cause for concentration quenching and concentration quenching was still observed in UCNPs with a well-protected surface. By using a mathematical model to better understand the processes, we proposed that this concentration quenching could be minimized by moving the extra sensitizers (Yb3+) to a different layer. To achieve this, a new tri-layer UCNP structure with sensitizers isolated in the middle layer was developed. It was observed that the quenching was reduced, and the luminescence intensity was enhanced up to 11.8 times in comparison with the brightest UCNPs without the sensitizing layer.

Graphical abstract: Elimination of concentration dependent luminescence quenching in surface protected upconversion nanoparticles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
17 Apr 2018
Accepted
10 Aug 2018
First published
11 Aug 2018

Nanoscale, 2018,10, 16447-16454

Elimination of concentration dependent luminescence quenching in surface protected upconversion nanoparticles

X. Zheng, S. Shikha and Y. Zhang, Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 16447 DOI: 10.1039/C8NR03121E

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