Up/down-conversion luminescence of monoclinic Gd₂O₃:Er³⁺ nanoparticles prepared by laser ablation in liquid

Abstract

Multifunctional luminescent materials are attracting attention nowadays. In this work, monoclinic Gd2O3:Er3+ nanoparticles, which possess up-conversion luminescence and down-conversion luminescence properties, were successfully synthesized by laser ablation in liquid (LAL) technique. Up-conversion luminescence and down-conversion luminescence of monoclinic Gd2O3:Er3+ nanoparticles were got under the excitation of 980 nm and 379 nm, respectively. In addition, tunable luminescence was got. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles is negligible and the fluorescence of the nanoparticles in cell is also strong enough. The results indicate that the Gd2O3:Er3+ nanoparticles synthesized by LAL technique are promising candidates for bio-imaging or other fields that require controllable fluorescence.