SYNTHESIS OF BIO-FUNCTIONALIZED RARE EARTH DOPED UPCONVERTING NANOPHOSPHORS

摘要

Methods for preparing rare earth doped monodisperse, hexagonal phase upconverting nanophosphors, the steps of which include:dissolving one or more rare earth precursor compounds and one or more host metal fluoride compounds in a solvent containing a tri-substituted phosphine or a tri-substituted phosphine oxide to form a solution;heating the solution to a temperature above about 250° C. at which the phosphine or phosphine oxide remains liquid and does not decompose; andprecipitating and isolating from the solution phosphorescent hexagonal phase monodisperse nanoparticles of the host metal compound doped with rare earth elements.Nanoparticles according to the present invention, and methods for coating the nanoparticles with SiO₂ are also disclosed.