Plasmonic‐enhanced NIR‐II downconversion fluorescence beyond 1500 nm from core–shell–shell lanthanide nanoparticles

Xu, J., Fu, M., Ji, C., Centeno, A. , Kim, D. K., Evers, K., Heutz, S. E. M., Oulton, R., Ryan, M. P. and Xie, F. (2023) Plasmonic‐enhanced NIR‐II downconversion fluorescence beyond 1500 nm from core–shell–shell lanthanide nanoparticles. Advanced Optical Materials, 11(19), 2300477. (doi: 10.1002/adom.202300477)

Abstract

This paper reports on the light amplification of NaGdF4:Yb,Er,Ce@NaGdF4:Yb,Nd@NaGdF4 core–shell–shell downconversion nanoparticles (CSS‐DCNPs) in the near‐infrared second biological window (NIR‐II: 1000–1700 nm) by plasmonic nanostructures. Through a precisely controlled plasmonic metallic nanostructure, fluorescence from Yb3+ induced 1000 nm emission, Nd3+ induced 1060 nm emission, and Er3+ induced 1527 nm emission are enhanced 1.6‐fold, 1.7‐fold, and 2.2‐fold, respectively, under an 808 nm laser excitation for the CSS‐DCNPs coupled with a gold hole‐cap nanoarray (Au‐HCNA), while the Er3+ induced 1527 nm emission under a 980 nm laser excitation is enhanced up to 6‐fold. To gain insight into the enhancement mechanism, the plasmonic modulation of Er3+ induced NIR‐II emission at 1550 nm under 980 nm excitation is studied by FDTD simulation and lifetime measurements, showing the observed fluorescence enhancement can be attributed to a combination of enhanced excitation and an increased radiative decay rate.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by Imperial College London, the President’s Excellence Fund for Frontier Research (awarded in 2021). The authors ac-knowledge the use of characterization facilities within the Harvey Flower Electron Microscopy Suite at the Department of Materials, Imperial College London. The authors acknowledge support from the Henry Royce Institute made through EPSRC grant EP/R00661X/1.
• Keywords: Nanoparticles, NIR‐II downconversion, fluorescence enhancement, plasmonic.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Centeno, Dr Anthony
• Authors: Xu, J., Fu, M., Ji, C., Centeno, A., Kim, D. K., Evers, K., Heutz, S. E. M., Oulton, R., Ryan, M. P., and Xie, F.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Advanced Optical Materials
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 2195-1071
• ISSN (Online): 2195-1071
• Published Online: 20 June 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Advanced Optical Materials 11(19):2300477
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence