Tailoring Lanthanide Upconversion Luminescence through Material Designs and Regulation Strategies

The anti-Stokes upconversion luminescence (UCL) generated from lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) has been highly favorable. Nevertheless, the future success of UCNPs is critically reliant on efficient tailoring of UCL, which has always been intensively focused and comprehensively studied. Notably, in recent years, several reports propose paradigm-shifting techniques and strategies in tailoring UCL, which greatly accelerate the development of the field. Therefore, the authors feel there is an urge to conduct an essential review and discussion on recent advances in tailoring UCL via internal material designs and external regulation strategies. The review starts with explicit discussions on the intricate material design of UCNPs, including orthogonal UCNP designs, hybrid upconversion systems, and highly doped designs. Subsequently, tailoring UCL via remote regulation strategies will be reviewed, including the upconversion manipulation with a microcavity, near-field effect, excitation power density, heat, and polarization angle. The innovations in the UCL tailoring strategies have significantly contributed to the progression of the field. The results demonstrated in these studies can potentially trigger new experimental designs in lots of other areas and further promote the future practical application of UCNPs. © 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.