Abstract
Synthesis of well-defined sodium yttrium fluoride (NaYF4) nanocrystals has been achieved in nonpolar solvents, but these nanocrystals possess a hydrophobic surface and need to be surface-modified for various biological applications. Development of facile aqueous solution method to synthesize one-dimensional NaYF4 with a hydrophilic surface still remains challenging. Herein, we demonstrate a simple route to prepare hydrophilic NaYF4 nanorods by using hydrophobic NaYF4 nanospheres as precursor. It is interesting to find that hydrothermal treatment of oleic acid-capped NaYF4 nanocrystals can not only induce anisotropic growth of these nanocrystals but also change their surface properties. The hydrophilic NaYF4 nanorods synthesized in this work has been well characterized and possible formation mechanism has also been discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
F. Wang and X.G. Liu: Recent advances in the chemistry of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanocrystals. Chem. Soc. Rev. 38, 976 (2009).
J. Zhou, Z. Liu, and F.Y. Li: Upconversion nanosphosphors for small-animal imaging. Chem. Soc. Rev. 41, 1323 (2012).
D.K. Chatterjee, M.K. Gnanasammandhan, and Y. Zhang: Small upconverting fluorescent nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Small 6, 2781 (2011).
C.X. Li and J. Lin: Rare earth fluoride nano-/microcrystals: Synthesis, surface modification and application. J. Mater. Chem. 20, 6831 (2010).
D.K. Chatterjee, A.J. Rufalhah, and Y. Zhang: Upconversion fluorescence imaging of cells and small animals using lanthanide-doped nanocrystals. Biomaterials 29, 937 (2008).
M. Nyk, R. Kumar, T.Y. Ohulchanskyy, E.J. Bergey, and P.N. Prasad: High contrast in vitro and in vivo photoluminescence bioimaging using near-infrared to near-infrared upconversion in Tm3+ and Yb3+-doped fluoride nanosphosphors. Nano Lett. 8, 3834 (2008).
N.M. Idris, Z.Q. Li, L. Ye, E.K.W Sim, R. Mahendran, P.C.L Ho, and Y. Zhang: Tracking transplanted cells in live animal using upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles. Biomaterials 30, 5104 (2009).
L.Q. Xiong, T.S. Yang, Y. Yang, C.J. Xu, and F.Y. Li: Long-term in vivo biodistribution imaging and toxicity of polyacrylic acid-coated upconversion nanophosphors. Biomaterials 31, 7078 (2010).
G.F. Wang, Q. Peng, and Y.D. Li: Lanthanide-doped nanocrystals: synthesis, optical-magnetic properties and applications. Acc. Chem. Res. 44, 322 (2011).
J. Shen, L.D. Sun, and C.H. Yan: Luminescent rare earth nanomaterials for bioprobe applications. Dalton Trans. 42, 5687 (2008).
L.Y. Wang, R.X. Yan, Z.Y. Hao, L. Wang, J.H. Zeng, H. Bao, X. Wang, Q. Peng, and Y.D. Li: Fluorescence resonant energy transfer biosensor based on upconversion-luminescent nanoparticles. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 44, 6054 (2005).
J.L. Liu, Y. Liu, Q. Liu, C.Y. Li, L.N. Sun, and F.Y. Li: Iridium(III) complex-coated nanosystem for ratiometric upconversion luminescence bioimaging of cyanide anions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 15276 (2011).
H.X. Mai, Y.W. Zhang, R. Si, Z.G. Yan, L.D. Sun, L.P. You, and C.H. Yan: High-quality sodium rare-earth fluoride nanocrystals: Controlled synthesis and optical properties. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128, 6426 (2006).
L.Y. Wang and Y.D. Li: Controlled synthesis and luminescence of lanthanide-doped NaYF4 nanocrystals. Chem. Mater. 19, 727 (2007).
Z.Q. Li and Y. Zhang: An efficient and user-friendly method for the synthesis of hexagonal phase NaYF4:Yb, Er/Tm nanocrystals with controllable shape and upconversion fluorescence. Nanotechnology 19, 345606 (2008).
Z.G. Chen, H.L. Chen, H. Hu, M.X. Yu, F.Y. Li, Q. Zhang, Z.G. Zhou, Y. Tao, and C.H. Huang: Versatile synthesis strategy for carboxylic acid-functionalized upconverting nanosphosphor as biological labels. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 3023 (2011).
Z.Q. Li, Y. Zhang, and S. Jiang: Multicolor core/shell-structured upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles. Adv. Mater. 20, 4765 (2008).
G.S. Yi, H.C. Lu, S.Y. Zhao, G. Yue, W.J. Yang, D.P. Chen, and L.H. Guo: Synthesis, characterization, and biological application of size-controlled nanocrystalline NaYF4:Yb, Er infrared-to-visible upconversion phosphors. Nano Lett. 4, 2191 (2004).
J.H. Zeng, J. Su, Z.H. Li, R.X. Yan, and Y.D. Li: Synthesis and upconversion luminescence of hexagonal-phase NaYF4:Yb, Er3+ phosphors of controlled size and morphology. Adv. Mater. 17, 2119 (2005).
C.X. Li, C.M. Zhang, Z.Y. Hou, L.L. Wang, Z.W. Quan, H.Z. Lian, and J. Lin: beta-NaYF4 and beta-NaYF4:Eu3+ microstructures: Morphology control and tunable luminescence properties. J. Phys. Chem. C 113, 2332 (2009).
J. Olesiak-Banska, M. Nyk, D. Kaczmarek, K. Matczyszyn, K. Pawlik, and M. Samoc: Synthesis and optical properties of water-soluble fluoride nanosphosphors co-doped with Eu3+ and Tb3+. Opt. Mater. 33, 1419 (2011).
H.C. Zeng: Synthetic architecture of interior space for inorganic nanostructures. J. Mater. Chem. 16, 649 (2006).
C.Z. Wu and Y. Xie: Controlling phase and morphology of inorganic nanostructures originated from the internal crystal structure. Chem. Commun. 40, 5943 (2009).
S. Heer, K. Kompe, H.U. Gudel, and M. Haase: Highly efficient multicolor upconversion emission in transparent colloids of lanthanide-doped NaYF4 nanocrystals. Adv. Mater. 16, 2102 (2004).
L.P. Qian, D. Yuan, G.S. Yi, and G.M. Chow: Critical shell thickness and emission enhancement of NaYF4:Yb, Er/NaYF4/silica core/shell nanoparticles. J. Mater. Res. 24, 3559 (2009).
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge financial support from National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 20901068) and Zhejiang Qianjiang Talent Project (No. 2010R10028).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Supplementary Material
Supplementary Material
Supplementary material can be viewed in this issue of the Journal of Materials Research by visiting http://journals.cambridge.org/jmr.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tao, Q., Li, Z., Zeng, Y. et al. Facile preparation of hydrophilic sodium yttrium fluoride nanorods using hydrophobic nanospheres as precursor. Journal of Materials Research 27, 2101–2105 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.177
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.177