Light Management in Upconverting Nanoparticles: Ultrasmall Core/Shell Architectures
to Tune the Emission Color
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Abstract
Ultrasmall
NaGdF<sub>4</sub> nanoparticles with core/shell and
core/shell/shell architectures have been synthesized following a microwave-based
thermolysis procedure, allowing us to rapidly obtain homogeneous nanoparticles
compared to conventional heating. To analyze the possibilities of
the proposed structure in terms of tuning the emission color, core
and shells have been doped with different lanthanide ion pairs (either
Er<sup>3+</sup>/Yb<sup>3+</sup> and/or Tm<sup>3+</sup>/Yb<sup>3+</sup>), keeping them therefore spatially separated inside the different
layers of the nanoparticles. Here, we demonstrate that the position
of the dopants inside the nanoparticles affects the intensity of the
different emission bands of the luminescing Tm<sup>3+</sup> and Er<sup>3+</sup> ions and show how it has a relevant effect on the overall
emission color of the luminescence obtained after 975 nm excitation