Plasmonic Modulation of the Upconversion Fluorescence in NaYF₄:Yb/Tm Hexaplate Nanocrystals Using Gold Nanoparticles or Nanoshells

Abstract

Automatic upgrade: attachment of gold nanoparticles (NPs) onto upconversion nanocrystals (NCs) results in plasmonic interactions that lead to a significant enhancement of upconversion emission of more than 2.5. Conversely, formation of a gold shell greatly suppresses the NC emission because of considerable scattering of excitation irradiation (see picture; a=NC before seed attachment; b, c=NC with attached Au NPs; c=NC with Au shell; scale bar=50 nm).