TY - JOUR A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Kaiser, Martin A1 - Wilhelm, Stefan A1 - Grauel, Bettina A1 - Hirsch, Th. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Excitation power dependent population pathways and absolute quantum yields of upconversion nanoparticles in different solvents JF - Nanoscale N2 - The rational design of brighter upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) requires a better understanding of the radiationless deactivation pathways in these materials. Here, we demonstrate the potential of excitation power density (P)-dependent studies of upconversion (UC) luminescence intensities, slope factors, and absolute quantum yields (ΦUC) of popular β-NaYF4:20% Yb3+,2% Er3+ UCNPs of different surface chemistries in organic solvents, D2O, and water as a tool to gain deeper insight into the UC mechanism including population and deactivation pathways particularly of the red emission. Our measurements, covering a P regime of three orders of magnitude, reveal a strong difference of the P-dependence of the ratio of the green and red luminescence bands (Ig/r) in water and organic solvents and P-dependent population pathways of the different emissive energy levels of Er3+. In summary, we provide experimental evidence for three photon processes in UCNPs, particularly for the red emission. Moreover, we demonstrate changes in the excited population dynamics via bi- and triphotonic processes dependent on the environment, surface chemistry, and P, and validate our findings theoretically KW - Upconverion KW - Quantum Yield KW - Photo physics PY - 2017 UR - http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2017/nr/c7nr00092h DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c7nr00092h SN - 2040-3364 SN - 2040-3372 VL - 9 IS - 12 SP - 4283 EP - 4294 PB - The Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-39849 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -