Effective plasmonic enhancement of up-conversion photoluminescence from α-NaGdF4:Yb3+,Er3+ nanoparticles by gold dendrites

Pham, Ngoc Bao Tri, Burko, Aliaksandr, Murashka, Valeryia, Laputsko, Diana, Bandarenka, Hanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4254-8261, Dauletbekova, Alma, Mamatkulov, Kahramon and Arzumanyan, Grigory 2026. Effective plasmonic enhancement of up-conversion photoluminescence from α-NaGdF4:Yb3+,Er3+ nanoparticles by gold dendrites. Scientific Reports 16 (1) , 11664. 10.1038/s41598-026-47244-9

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Abstract

The current paradigm of plasmon-enhanced up-conversion photoluminescence (PE-UCPL) lays in intimate coupling domains of noble metal and lanthanide-doped nanoparticles. An increase of incident electromagnetic field and radiative emission rates is the key reason for the UCPL enhancement by the primitive plasmonic architectures of metal nanospheres/nanorods/nanoshells. Based on the hypothesis of precise tuning surface plasmon resonance in more complicated nanoobjects by adjusting process-structure relationship, we engineered a PE-UCPL platform composed of α-NaGdF4:Yb3+,Er3+ nanoparticles and gold dendrites on macroporous silicon (macro-PSi). The uncertainty in contribution of metal dendrites to PE-UCPL is typically due to the structural unpredictability of their highly branched morphologies during formation. Remarkably, macro-PSi dramatically reduces such a barrier. An approach to manage dendritic morphology can be regarded as a controlled corrosive substitution of the silicon skeleton with gold atoms mediated by external fluorine ions from the HF-based electrolyte for gold deposition. Here, we present a comprehensive characterization of three types of Au dendrites grown on macro-PSi for selection of optimal geometry applied to enhance up-conversion of α-NaGdF4:Yb3+,Er3+ nanoparticles. We particularly examined structural/optical properties of Au dendrites and explored a role of incident electric field projection using computer simulation of a dendrite composed of hexagonal bipyramids. The selected Au dendrites provided a broadband PE-UCPL upon 780–990 nm excitation accompanied by a 35-fold increase in a ‘red’ peak integrated intensity and a 26-fold enhancement in a ‘green’ one compared to reference α-NaGdF4:Yb3+,Er3+ nanoparticles. Our results are prospective to advance many applications including bioimaging, solid- state lighting, and especially neutral-color solar cells based on macro-Psi.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2045-2322
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	23 July 2026
Date of Acceptance:	30 March 2026
Last Modified:	07 Sep 2026 21:50
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/188406

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