Template synthesis of luminescent oligoperoxide coated YBO3 nanoparticles doped with Ce3+, Tb3+ and Eu3+ ions

Abstract

The template synthesis with different concentrations of heterofunctional oligoperoxide NVP-co-VEP-co-GMA (2-tert-butylperoxy-5-methyl-1-hexene-3-yne) was performed to obtain inorganic nanoparticles of controlled size. An increase of polymer concentration provides the decrease of nanoparticle size and polydispersity index. As a result of template synthesis, the polymer molecules were adsorbed unto the nanoparticle surface forming irreversibly attached functional shell protecting the nanoparticles from aggregation. Such the polymer coated nanoparticles showed significantly lower aggregation even after high-temperature annealing, which is necessary to increase their luminescence efficiency. The luminescence spectral-kinetic study of YBO3–Ce, YBO3–Ce, Tb and YBO3–Ce,Tb, Eu nanoparticles revealed an efficient nonradiative transfer of excitation energy from Ce to Tb ions in YBO3–Ce, Tb and from Ce to Tb to Eu in YBO3–Ce,Tb, Eu nanoscale host. The potential use of YBO3–Ce, YBO3–Ce, Tb and YBO3–Ce,Tb, Eu nanoparticles for biological imaging was demonstrated by the luminescence microscopy.