Visible and near infrared upconversion emission from Tm3+, Yb3+ ‎doped SrF2 nanoparticles

• Main Authors: M Ghorashi, H R Madaah-Hosseini, E Mohajerani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Isfahan University of Technology 2021-02-01
• Series: Iranian Journal of Physics Research
• Subjects: upconversion nanoparticles; strontium fluoride; ‎ tm and yb dopants; hydrothermal ‎synthesis; optical properties‎
• Online Access: http://ijpr.iut.ac.ir/article_1651_da7e2fa105954ae9fe6032da9eeba155.pdf

Tm3+, Yb3+-codoped SrF2 nanoparticles were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal ‎technique. Citrate ions were introduced as the capping agent into the reaction. Upconversion ‎nanoparticles were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), ‎Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), Dynamic light scattering ‎‎(DLS), Zeta potential, Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (Ft-IR), and the 980 nm laser induced ‎photoluminescence spectroscopy. Rare-earth ions (Na+), which are the cations of citrate salts, ‎are incorporated into the structure to  act as charge compensators. Upconversion emission in the ‎visible and NIR region was observed by the 980 nm irradiation. Nanoparticles with a narrow size ‎distribution and a uniform morphology were directly dispersible in water, forming a quite transparent ‎suspension. Nanoparticles size was approximately 10 nm. High penetration of the  Near-Infrared light into ‎the body tissue makes these nanoparticles appropriate for tumor targeting in the deeper tissues for ‎the purpose of bioimaging and photodynamic therapy‎.