Abstract
Lanthanide (Ln3+)-doped near infrared (NIR)-II luminescent nanoprobes have shown great promise in many technological fields, but are currently limited by the low absorption efficiency of Ln3+ due to the forbidden 4f→4f transition. Herein, we report a novel NIR-II luminescent nanoprobe based on efficient energy transfer from Ce3+ to Er3+ and Nd3+ in sub-10 nm SrS nanocrystals (NCs), which are excitable by using a commercial blue light-emitting diode (LED). Through sensitization by the allowed 4f→5d transition of Ce3+, the NCs exhibit strong NIR-II luminescence from Er3+ and Nd3+ with quantum yields of 2.9% and 2.3%, respectively. Furthermore, by utilizing the intense NIR-II luminescence of Er3+ from the thermally coupled Stark sublevels of 4I13/2, we demonstrate the application of SrS:Ce3+/Er3+ NCs as blue-LED-excitable NIR-II luminescent nanoprobes for ratiometric thermal sensing. These findings reveal the unique advantages of SrS:Ln3+ NCs in NIR-II luminescence, which may open up a new avenue for exploring novel and versatile luminescent nanoprobes based on Ln3+-doped sulphide NCs.
摘要
稀土掺杂近红外二区纳米荧光探针在许多技术领域都具有广泛 的应用前景, 但目前受限于稀土离子的4f→4f禁戒跃迁导致材料的吸收 强度弱、发光效率低. 本文报道了一种基于SrS纳米晶Ce3+到Er3+和 Nd3+高效能量传递的新型蓝光LED可激发的近红外二区纳米荧光探针. 通过Ce3+的4f→5d吸收允许跃迁敏化, 该纳米晶可实现Er3+和Nd3+的高 效近红外二区发光, 其荧光量子产率分别为2.9%和2.3%. 利用Er3+ 的4I13/2热耦合晶体场子能级的近红外二区发光, 该纳米晶可作为一种 蓝光LED激发的近红外二区纳米荧光探针用于比率式温度传感. 这些 结果展示了SrS:Ln3+纳米晶在近红外二区波段的发光优点, 为多功能稀 土硫化物基纳米荧光探针的设计开发提供了新思路.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Science and Technology Cooperation Fund between Chinese and Australian Governments (2017YFE0132300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22135008, 12074379, 21875250 and 12004384), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2020I0037 and 2021L3024), the Chinese Academy of Sciences/State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (CAS/SAFEA) International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams, and Fujian Science & Technology Innovation Laboratory for Optoelectronic Information of China (2021ZR125).
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Author contributions Wei J, Zheng W and Chen X conceived the projects, wrote the paper and were primarily responsible for the experiments. Wei J, Liu Y and Zhang M carried out the synthesis and characterization of the NCs. Wei J, Huang P, Gong Z and Li R measured the PL spectra and analyzed the data. All authors contributed to the general discussion.
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Jiaojiao Wei earned her master’s degree from Fujian Normal University (2018). She is currently a PhD student in inorganic chemistry at Fuzhou University. She joined Prof. Xueyuan Chen’s group at Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in September 2016. Her research interest focuses on the controlled synthesis and optical spectroscopy of inorganic luminescent nanomaterials.
Wei Zheng was born in Fujian province of China. He earned his BSc degree (2007) in material forming and control engineering from Sichuan University and received his PhD degree (2012) in condensed matter physics from FJIRSM, CAS. He joined Prof. Xueyuan Chen’s group in 2012 and was promoted to a professor in 2019. His research interest focuses on the controlled synthesis, optical properties and applications of inorganic luminescent nanomaterials, including lanthanide luminescent nanoparticles and perovskite nanocrystals.
Xueyuan Chen is editor-in-chief of Journal of Luminescence. He earned his BSc degree from the University of Science and Technology of China (1993) and his PhD degree from FJIRSM, CAS (1998). From 2001 to 2005, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Chemistry Division of Argonne National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, where he studied the photophysics and photochemistry of heavy elements. In 2005, he joined the faculty at FJIRSM, where he is currently a professor and group leader in materials chemistry and physics. His research focuses on the electronic structures, optical properties and applications of inorganic luminescent materials, such as lanthanide (rare-earth) nano-bioprobes and LED phosphors.
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Wei, J., Liu, Y., Zhang, M. et al. Blue-LED-excitable NIR-II luminescent lanthanide-doped SrS nanoprobes for ratiometric thermal sensing. Sci. China Mater. 65, 1094–1102 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-1801-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-1801-8