Multi-color luminescence and anticounterfeiting application of upconversion nanoparticle

Abstract

Multi-color luminescence materials are important in the illumination, solid-state three-dimensional display, information storage, biological labelling and anticounterfeiting fields. Herein, we designed a novel core–shell structure upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) material (NaYF₄) with lanthanide ion doping to achieve multi-color luminescence under a single NIR excitation laser. Different from the typical single-sensitizer materials, the core–shell structure utilizes Nd³⁺, Yb³⁺, Tm³⁺ and Er³⁺ ions to obtain tuning of the color and brightness. The doping of Nd³⁺ ions enhances the weak color (red) light source to maintain the light color balance. Benefiting from the color adjustment of the sensitizers and the change of the core–shell coating, bright-white emission and flexible color emission from red to green, cyan and blue can be achieved via the diverse doped rare earth ions in a single UCNP under continuous-wave laser excitation (980 nm). Simultaneously, the emission color of the UCNPs can change with the intensity of the excitation light source and the wavelength. The bright-white emission can be used for lighting displays, and the flexible full-color emission can be applied in the anticounterfeiting and information storage fields.