title: Water-Soluble Ln(3+)-doped LaF(3) nanoparticles: retention of strong luminescence and potential as bio-labels.
abstract: The use of optically robust, luminescent lanthanide-based particles is becoming an area of interest for bio-label-related chemistry, due to their long lifetimes and range of non-overlapping absorption and emission lines from the visible to the near-infrared. We report the synthesis and optical properties of water-soluble, luminescent Ln(3+)-doped nanoparticles (NPs) coordinated with a hydrophilic (RO)PO(3) (2-) ligand that facilitates the stabilization of the NPs in aqueous conditions, and that regulates particle growth to the nanometer range. The use of lanthanide ions as dopants, in particular Eu(3+) and Er(3+) ions, yields optically robust particles with narrow emission lines in the visible (591 nm) and in the near-infrared (1530 nm), respectively. Luminescent lifetimes range from the microsecond to the millisecond for Er(3+) and Eu(3+) ions, respectively, and the NPs are not expected to be susceptible to photo-bleaching due to the fact that the emissions arise from intra-4f transitions of the lanthanide ions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3065, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 3V6.
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Diamente
authors.forename: Frank C J M
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: van Veggel
mesh_terms: D004871:Erbium / Q000737:chemistry; D005063:Europium / Q000737:chemistry; D005461:Fluorine / Q000737:chemistry*; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements / Q000737:chemistry*; D049449:Luminescence; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry; D012995:Solubility; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements; D049408:Luminescent Agents; D014867:Water; D005461:Fluorine; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D005063:Europium; D004871:Erbium