Enhanced upconversion fluorescent probe of single NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+/Zn2+ nanoparticles for copper ion detection

Baobao Zhang; Jiajia Meng; Xiaohu Mi; Changjian Zhang; Zhenglong Zhang; Hairong Zheng

doi:10.1039/c8ra07103a

Enhanced upconversion fluorescent probe of single NaYF₄:Yb³⁺/Er³⁺/Zn²⁺ nanoparticles for copper ion detection

RSC Adv. 2018 Nov 8;8(66):37618-37622. doi: 10.1039/c8ra07103a. eCollection 2018 Nov 7.

Authors

Baobao Zhang¹, Jiajia Meng¹, Xiaohu Mi¹, Changjian Zhang¹, Zhenglong Zhang¹, Hairong Zheng¹

Affiliation

¹ School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University Xi'an 710119 P. R. China hrzheng@snnu.edu.cn zlzhang@snnu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Surface modified NaYF₄:Yb³⁺/Er³⁺/Zn²⁺ upconversion nanoparticles were obtained by using branched polyethylenimine (PEI). Strong fluorescence emission was observed and the influence of copper ions on the fluorescence emission of the PEI-modified NaYF₄:Yb³⁺/Er³⁺/Zn²⁺ nanoparticles was investigated. It was found that the fluorescence emission can be quenched through luminescence resonance energy transfer from the particle to the copper ions. The results show that the PEI modified NaYF₄:Yb³⁺/Er³⁺/Zn²⁺ nanoparticle can be used as a fluorescent probe for highly sensitive and selective detection of copper ions.