Reduced erbium-doped ceria nanoparticles: one nano-host applicable for simultaneous optical down- and up-conversions

Nader Shehata; Kathleen Meehan; Ibrahim Hassounah; Mantu Hudait; Nikhil Jain; Michael Clavel; Sarah Elhelw; Nabil Madi

doi:10.1186/1556-276X-9-231

Reduced erbium-doped ceria nanoparticles: one nano-host applicable for simultaneous optical down- and up-conversions

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2014 May 13;9(1):231. doi: 10.1186/1556-276X-9-231. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Nader Shehata¹, Kathleen Meehan², Ibrahim Hassounah³, Mantu Hudait², Nikhil Jain², Michael Clavel², Sarah Elhelw², Nabil Madi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA ; Department of Engineering Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
² Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
³ Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), Blacksburg, VA, USA.
⁴ Center of Advanced Materials (CAM), Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.

Abstract

This paper introduces a new synthesis procedure to form erbium-doped ceria nanoparticles (EDC NPs) that can act as an optical medium for both up-conversion and down-conversion in the same time. This synthesis process results qualitatively in a high concentration of Ce(3+) ions required to obtain high fluorescence efficiency in the down-conversion process. Simultaneously, the synthesized nanoparticles contain the molecular energy levels of erbium that are required for up-conversion. Therefore, the synthesized EDC NPs can emit visible light when excited with either UV or IR photons. This opens new opportunities for applications where emission of light via both up- and down-conversions from a single nanomaterial is desired such as solar cells and bio-imaging.

Keywords: Ceria nanoparticles; Erbium dopant; Fluorescence; Up-conversion.