AUTHOR=Song Nan , Zhou Bo , Yan Long , Huang Jinshu , Zhang Qinyuan TITLE=Understanding the Role of Yb3+ in the Nd/Yb Coupled 808-nm-Responsive Upconversion JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry VOLUME=6 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2018.00673 DOI=10.3389/fchem.2018.00673 ISSN=2296-2646 ABSTRACT=

The realization of upconversion at 808 nm excitation has shown great advantages in advancing the broad bioapplications of lanthanide-doped nanomaterials. In an 808 nm responsive system, Nd3+ and Yb3+ are both needed where Nd3+ acts as a sensitizer through absorbing the excitation irradiation. However, few studies have been dedicated to the role of Yb3+. Here, we report a systemic investigation on the role of Yb3+ by designing a set of core-shell-based nanostructures. We find that energy migration over the ytterbium sublattice plays a key role in facilitating the energy transportation, and moreover, we show that the interfacial energy transfer occurring at the core-shell interface also has a contribution to the upconversion. By optimizing the dopant concentration and surface anchoring the infrared indocyanine green dye, the 808 nm responsive upconversion is markedly enhanced. These results present an in-depth understanding of the fundamental interactions among lanthanides, and more importantly, they offer new possibilities to tune and control the upconversion of lanthanide-based luminescent materials.