Abstract
Persistent luminescent nanoparticles (PLNPs) are promising for many bioapplications due to their unique afterglow luminescence following the stoppage of light excitation. However, PLNPs are prone to surface quenching that results in weak afterglow luminescence. Although some efforts have been made to reduce surface quenching through designing homogeneous core-shell PLNPs, the enhancement in afterglow luminescence was insignificant. We hypothesize that the independent absorption and emission of the shell caused less energy to reach the activator ions in the core. Hence, a heterogeneous core-shell PLNP where the shell has a higher band gap than the core would reduce the absorption and emission of the shell. In this work, ZnGa2O4 and Zn2GeO4 were coated on Zn1.2Ga1.6Ge0.2O4:Cr and Zn3Ga2Ge2O10:Eu nanocrystals, respectively, to form heterogeneous core-shell PLNPs and significant luminescence enhancement was achieved compared to their traditional homogeneous core-shell nanostructures. © 2024 American Chemical Society.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 12368–12373 |
| Journal | Nano Letters |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 40 |
| Online published | 13 Sept 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 9 Oct 2024 |
Funding
We acknowledge the financial support from the National Medical Research Council of Singapore (NMRC, MOH-000640, and MOH-001114-00) and the City University of Hong Kong (project number 9380160).
Research Keywords
- band gap
- core−shell nanostructure
- nanoparticles
- persistent luminescence
- ultraviolet light
Publisher's Copyright Statement
- COPYRIGHT TERMS OF DEPOSITED POSTPRINT FILE: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Nano Letters, copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c02295.