Single-nanocrystal sensitivity achieved by enhanced upconversion luminescence
Top Cited Papers
- 1 September 2013
- journal article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Nanotechnology
- Vol. 8 (10), 729-734
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.171
Abstract
Upconversion nanocrystals convert infrared radiation to visible luminescence, and are promising for applications in biodetection, bioimaging, solar cells and three-dimensional display technologies. Although the design of suitable nanocrystals has improved the performance of upconversion nanocrystals, their emission brightness is limited by the low doping concentration of activator ions needed to avoid the luminescence quenching that occurs at high concentrations. Here, we demonstrate that high excitation irradiance can alleviate concentration quenching in upconversion luminescence when combined with higher activator concentration, which can be increased from 0.5 mol% to 8 mol% Tm(3+) in NaYF₄. This leads to significantly enhanced luminescence signals, by up to a factor of 70. By using such bright nanocrystals, we demonstrate remote tracking of a single nanocrystal with a microstructured optical-fibre dip sensor. This represents a sensitivity improvement of three orders of magnitude over benchmark nanocrystals such as quantum dots.Jiangbo Zhao, Dayong Jin, Erik P. Schartner, Yiqing Lu, Yujia Liu, Andrei V. Zvyagin, Lixin Zhang, Judith M. Dawes, Peng Xi, James A. Piper, Ewa M. Goldys and Tanya M. MonrKeywords
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- Time-Gated Orthogonal Scanning Automated Microscopy (OSAM) for High-speed Cell Detection and AnalysisScientific Reports, 2012
- Tuning upconversion through energy migration in core–shell nanoparticlesNature Materials, 2011
- Driving down the Detection Limit in Microstructured Fiber‑Based Chemical Dip SensorsSensors, 2011
- Composition tuning the upconversion emission in NaYF4:Yb/Tm hexaplate nanocrystalsNanoscale, 2011
- Morphologically controlled synthesis of colloidal upconversion nanophosphors and their shape-directed self-assemblyProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Direct Evidence of a Surface Quenching Effect on Size‐Dependent Luminescence of Upconversion NanoparticlesAngewandte Chemie-International Edition, 2010
- The Active‐Core/Active‐Shell Approach: A Strategy to Enhance the Upconversion Luminescence in Lanthanide‐Doped NanoparticlesAdvanced Functional Materials, 2009
- Non-blinking and photostable upconverted luminescence from single lanthanide-doped nanocrystalsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- High Contrast in Vitro and in Vivo Photoluminescence Bioimaging Using Near Infrared to Near Infrared Up-Conversion in Tm3+ and Yb3+ Doped Fluoride NanophosphorsNano Letters, 2008
- Study on six-photon and five-photon ultraviolet upconversion luminescenceJournal of the Optical Society of America B, 2007