TY - JOUR
T1 - Highly bright multicolor tunable ultrasmall β-Na(Y,Gd)F 4:Ce,Tb,Eu/β-NaYF4 core/shell nanocrystals
AU - Kim, Su Yeon
AU - Woo, Kyoungja
AU - Lim, Kipil
AU - Lee, Kwangyeol
AU - Jang, Ho Seong
PY - 2013/10/7
Y1 - 2013/10/7
N2 - Herein, we report highly bright multicolor-emitting β-Na(Y,Gd)F 4:Ce,Tb,Eu/β-NaYF4 nanoparticles (NPs) with precise color tunability. First, highly bright sub-20 nm β-Na(Y,Gd)F 4:Ce,Tb,Eu NPs were synthesized via a heating-up method. By controlling the ratio of Eu3+ to Tb3+, we generated green, yellow-green, greenish yellow, yellow, orange, reddish orange, and red emissions from the NP solutions via energy transfer of Ce3+ → Gd3+ → Tb3+ (green) and Ce3+ → Gd3+ → Tb3+ → Eu3+ (red) ions under ultraviolet light illumination (254 nm). Because of Ce3+ and Gd 3+ sensitization, Tb3+ ions exhibited strong green emission. The decay time of Tb3+ emission decreased from 4.0 to 1.4 ms as the Eu3+ concentration was increased, suggesting that energy was transferred from Tb3+ to Eu3+. As a result, Eu 3+ emission peaks were generated and the emission color was transformed from green to red. Monodisperse sub-6 nm β-Na(Y,Gd)F 4:Ce,Tb,Eu NPs were synthesized through a simple reduction of the reaction temperature. Although fine color tunability was retained, their brightness was considerably decreased owing to an increase in the surface-to-volume ratio. The formation of a β-NaYF4 shell on top of the sub-6 nm NP core to produce β-Na(Y,Gd)F4:Ce,Tb,Eu/ β-NaYF4 significantly increased the emission intensity, while maintaining the sub-10 nm sizes (8.7-9.5 nm). Quantum yields of the ultrasmall NPs increased from 1.1-6.9% for the core NPs to 6.7-44.4% for the core/shell NPs. Moreover, highly transparent core/shell NP-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composites featuring a variety of colors, excellent color tunability, and high brightness were also prepared.
AB - Herein, we report highly bright multicolor-emitting β-Na(Y,Gd)F 4:Ce,Tb,Eu/β-NaYF4 nanoparticles (NPs) with precise color tunability. First, highly bright sub-20 nm β-Na(Y,Gd)F 4:Ce,Tb,Eu NPs were synthesized via a heating-up method. By controlling the ratio of Eu3+ to Tb3+, we generated green, yellow-green, greenish yellow, yellow, orange, reddish orange, and red emissions from the NP solutions via energy transfer of Ce3+ → Gd3+ → Tb3+ (green) and Ce3+ → Gd3+ → Tb3+ → Eu3+ (red) ions under ultraviolet light illumination (254 nm). Because of Ce3+ and Gd 3+ sensitization, Tb3+ ions exhibited strong green emission. The decay time of Tb3+ emission decreased from 4.0 to 1.4 ms as the Eu3+ concentration was increased, suggesting that energy was transferred from Tb3+ to Eu3+. As a result, Eu 3+ emission peaks were generated and the emission color was transformed from green to red. Monodisperse sub-6 nm β-Na(Y,Gd)F 4:Ce,Tb,Eu NPs were synthesized through a simple reduction of the reaction temperature. Although fine color tunability was retained, their brightness was considerably decreased owing to an increase in the surface-to-volume ratio. The formation of a β-NaYF4 shell on top of the sub-6 nm NP core to produce β-Na(Y,Gd)F4:Ce,Tb,Eu/ β-NaYF4 significantly increased the emission intensity, while maintaining the sub-10 nm sizes (8.7-9.5 nm). Quantum yields of the ultrasmall NPs increased from 1.1-6.9% for the core NPs to 6.7-44.4% for the core/shell NPs. Moreover, highly transparent core/shell NP-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composites featuring a variety of colors, excellent color tunability, and high brightness were also prepared.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84884265946&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/c3nr02591h
DO - 10.1039/c3nr02591h
M3 - Article
C2 - 23945563
AN - SCOPUS:84884265946
VL - 5
SP - 9255
EP - 9263
JO - Nanoscale
JF - Nanoscale
SN - 2040-3364
IS - 19
ER -