Upconversion luminescence enhancement in plasmonic architecture with random assembly of metal nanodomes

Abstract

We report an experimental study on the highly enhanced upconversion luminescence (UCL) of β-NaYF4:Yb(3+)/Er(3+) nanocrystals (NCs) in a plasmonic architecture. For the architecture, we designed a thin film device composed of a thin layer of NCs capped with an upper layer of a plasmonic nanodome array (pNDA) and lower substrate of a back reflector (BR). Compared to the UCL intensity observed in a glass reference substrate, the designed plasmonic architecture exhibits distinctively strong luminescence enhanced by up to 800-fold. The intensity considerably exceeds the previously reported luminescence intensity regardless of the excitation power. We elucidated a mechanism explaining the large UCL enhancement, which quantitatively analyzes the combination of plasmonic effects as well as multiple large scattering. More importantly, we provided a detailed analysis of the Ag NDA-derived and BR-assisted plasmonic effects that contribute to an increase in the radiative decay rate and an enhancement of the absorption of incident light. The present study is expected to be beneficial for designing a thin film-based plasmonic structure with a randomized metal nanostructure for high-efficiency photovoltaic devices and infrared detectors.

Plasmonic Nanowire‐Enhanced Upconversion Luminescence for Anticounterfeit Devices

“…[1][2][3] Several approaches, such as hologram attachment, [4] radio-frequency identification (RFID), [5] isotope tracking, [6] and luminescence printing, [7][8][9][10] have been applied to realize the technology. [28][29][30] The localized near field further induces localized surface plasmons (LSPs) in the plane dimension around the metallic nanostructures as well as gap plasmon polaritons (GPPs) which are confined in the insulator layer. However, owing to its fabrication simplicity, it is prone to a observed when sandwiched by metallic nanostructures and a bottom metallic back reflector.…”

“…[28,[35][36][37] The pNUM configuration is observed to exhibit the threshold for the linear process at a lower excitation power than that for other architectures, indicating that the second excited level in Adv. The plasmonic architecture consists of the randomly dispersed Ag nanowires (AgNWs) network, upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) monolayer, and metal film, in which the UCL is enhanced by a few tens, compared to reference sample, becuase the plasmonic modes lead to the concentration of the incident near infrared (NIR) light in the UCNPs monolayer.…”

“…[28,[35][36][37] The pNUM configuration is observed to exhibit the threshold for the linear process at a lower excitation power than that for other architectures, indicating that the second excited level in Adv. [28,[35][36][37] The pNUM configuration is observed to exhibit the threshold for the linear process at a lower excitation power than that for other architectures, indicating that the second excited level in Adv.…”

“…[7] Unfortunately, there is a barrier in progressive usage of UCL nanomaterials for anticounterfeit devices. [27,28] In particular, up to three orders of magnitude-enhanced UCL from the monolayer of UC nanoparticles (UCNPs) in a thin dielectric insulator was In order to intensify UCL, thick-layer inkjet printing of the materials was suggested; [7] however, the printing-based method reduces the cost-effectiveness because a large amount of the UCL nanomaterials is required.…”

Wavelength Conversion Enhancement Achieved by Using Resonance in an Array of Nanocylinders

“…However, the light absorbance in UC materials and the conversion efficiency of UC processes are usually too low for application in practical devices [11]. Therefore, several studies have combined metallic nanostructures with UC materials to improve the UC process in various ways [12,13]. For example, light absorption can be enhanced by applying localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance to metal nanoparticles and nanowires [13,14].…”