Issue 46, 2017

Unravelling the energy transfer of Er3+-self-sensitized upconversion in Er3+–Yb3+–Er3+ clustered core@shell nanoparticles

Abstract

Unravelling upconversion (UC) energy transfer mechanisms is significant for designing novel efficient anti-Stokes phosphors. We have studied the correlation of different lanthanide dopants within Er3+-self-sensitized core@shell upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). Here, our focus will be on high-concentration dopants that are able to sufficiently produce the clustering effect, especially within the interplay between Er3+ and Yb3+. We demonstrate that whatever the amount of the self-sensitizer (e.g., Er3+), abnormal absorption enhancement will occur as long as Yb3+ clusters are present. This effect originates from the substantial energy transfer between Yb3+–Yb3+ clusters despite the increased energy transfer from Yb3+ to Er3+. Therefore, the energy transfer efficiency is still constrained. However, we conversely used one of the aforementioned quench-paths of UC energy transfer to easily transfer the energy from the in-shell shell layer to the in-core area with the assistance of the energy potential reservoir, which was given by the homogeneous core@shell band offset at the interface region. Indirectly, we actualize the Er3+ UC luminescence with self-sensitization through an extended energy transfer path. This work provides a solid support and analytic theory for unraveling the energy transfer mechanism from recent works on Er3+ self-sensitized UC luminescence.

Graphical abstract: Unravelling the energy transfer of Er3+-self-sensitized upconversion in Er3+–Yb3+–Er3+ clustered core@shell nanoparticles

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 sept. 2017
Accepted
09 nov. 2017
First published
21 nov. 2017

Nanoscale, 2017,9, 18490-18497

Unravelling the energy transfer of Er3+-self-sensitized upconversion in Er3+–Yb3+–Er3+ clustered core@shell nanoparticles

B. Huang, M. Sun, A. W. Dougherty, H. Dong, Y. Xu, L. Sun and C. Yan, Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 18490 DOI: 10.1039/C7NR06729A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements