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Enhancing the red upconversion of water-soluble β-NaErF4:Yb nanocrystals through Ca2+ doping

  • Brief Communication: Nano-structured materials (particles, fibers, colloids, composites, etc.)
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Abstract

With the aim of developing lanthanide fluoride-based nanoparticles (NPs) with enhanced upconversion (UC) luminescence properties, Ca2+-doped water-soluble β-NaErF4:Yb nanocrystals are prepared by a facile solvothermal reaction using ethylene glycol and water as the solvents and comb-like superplasticizer (SP), polyacrylic-co-methyl allyl polyoxyethylene ether copolymer as the capping agent. The SP-capped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results show that the capping agent has great influence on the morphology and colloidal solubility of the nanocrystals. The morphological and phase evolution of the nanocrystals is studied. Furthermore, bright red UC luminescence is observed when the sol is irradiated by a 980 nm laser, and the red UC photoluminescence (UCPL) emission is enhanced by eight times upon doping with 50 mol% Ca2+. The decay time and stability of the UCPL are also discussed. With the efficient stable red UC, the Ca2+ doped water-soluble NaErF4:Yb nanocrystals may find use in various optical applications.

Highlights

  • For the first time, superplasticizer is used as the capping agent to synthesize NaErF4:Yb upconversion nanocrystals in a simple solvothermal method.

  • Upto 50mol% Ca2+ is doped into the NaErF4:Yb nanocrystals, the doped nanoparticles are monodisperse and uniform, exhibiting good crystallinity with a pure hexagonal structure.

  • Transparent sols are obtained due to the surface of the UCNPs being capped with superplasticizer.

  • The red UCPL intensity of the 50mol% Ca2+ doped NaErF4:Yb is increased about eight times compared with that of the nondoped sample.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the financial support from the Research Group of Rare Earth Resource Exploiting and Luminescent Materials (2017KCXTD022), Science and Technology Bureau of Zhanjiang (2016A02017) and Lingnan Normal University (ZL1507).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of New Materials, Lingnan Normal University, 29 Cunjin road, Zhanjiang, 524048, China

    Biao Yu, Xiaoping Zhou, Xiaoshan Tang, Yan Lin & Chunliang Tang

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  1. Biao Yu
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  2. Xiaoping Zhou
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  3. Xiaoshan Tang
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  4. Yan Lin
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  5. Chunliang Tang
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Correspondence to Chunliang Tang.

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Yu, B., Zhou, X., Tang, X. et al. Enhancing the red upconversion of water-soluble β-NaErF4:Yb nanocrystals through Ca2+ doping. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 93, 473–478 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05215-9

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