Energy transfer from pyridine molecules towards europium cations contained in sub 5-nm Eu2O3 nanoparticles: Can a particle be an efficient multiple donor-acceptor system?

Abstract

Sensitized Eu2O3 nanoparticles coated by polysiloxane have been prepared using a polyol method. Further grafting of pyridine molecules on particles surface enhances 400-times the emission of the Eu 3+ cations. The sensitizing effect of the pyridine molecules that transfer a part of their excitation towards Eu3+ has been studied by systematic excitation and emission measurements. All of the de-excitation pathway rates involved in the emission processes of these nanoparticles were determined. In particular, the transfer efficiency which was found independent of the number of sensitizers per particle is equal to 0.13±0.01, a value quite satisfying taking into account that the donors and the acceptors are separated by a polysiloxane spacer of 0.4nm. Furthermore this multiple donor-acceptor system has been modeled in order to deduce the average transfer efficiency as a function of the single donor-acceptor transfer rate. The theoretical modeling is in complete coherence with the experiments performed on a series of samples varying the thickness of the polysiloxane shell, i.e., the spacing distance between the donors and the acceptors. All these results illustrate the interest of using such structures in applications requiring ultrasensitive detection. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.