title: Constructing Interfacial Energy Transfer for Photon Up- and Down-Conversion from Lanthanides in a Core-Shell Nanostructure.
abstract: We report a new mechanistic strategy for controlling and modifying the photon emission of lanthanides in a core-shell nanostructure by using interfacial energy transfer. By taking advantage of this mechanism with Gd(3+) as the energy donor, we have realized efficient up- and down-converted emissions from a series of lanthanide emitters (Eu(3+) , Tb(3+) , Dy(3+) , and Sm(3+) ) in these core-shell nanoparticles, which do not need a migratory host sublattice. Moreover, we have demonstrated that the Gd(3+) -mediated interfacial energy transfer, in contrast to energy migration, is the leading process contributing to the photon emission of lanthanide dopants for the NaGdF4 @NaGdF4 core-shell system. Our finding suggests a new direction for research into better control of energy transfer at the nanometer length scale, which would help to stimulate new concepts for designing and improving photon emission of the lanthanide-based luminescent materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. eebzhou@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.|School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Shu Ping
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices and, Institute of Optical Communication Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China. qyzhang@scut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qinyuan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. Yuen.Tsang@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Yuen Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Tsang
keywords: core-shell architecture; down-conversion; interfacial energy transfer; lanthanides; up-conversion