Shape-controllable Synthesis of Silica Coated Core/Shell Upconversion Nanomaterials and Rapid Imaging of Latent Fingerprints

Lijia Wang, Wenhong Gu, Zhengbin An, Qingyun Cai

Index: 10.1016/j.snb.2018.03.084

Full Text: HTML

Abstract

Upconversion nanomaterials with complex morphologies have attracted considerable interests due to morphology-dependent properties. In this work, silica coated-NaYF4 upconversion nanomaterials (NaYF4@SiO2) of various shapes – nanorods, nanodumbbell and nanowire – were synthesized through controlling the ratio of NaYF4 nanorods to silica. The nanodumbbell and nanowire morphologies showed much higher fluorescence efficiency than that of nanorod. These upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) exhibited a high signal-to-noise ratio, effectively circumvent luminescence quenching and excellent photo-stability under 980 nm excitation. In particular, the as-prepared nanodumbbells were successfully applied to rapid latent fingerprint imaging, showing advantages over commercial fluorescence reagents. Such nanoparticles with further modification are expected to have a great potential in forensic and biological sciences.