TY - JOUR A1 - Tan, M. A1 - Monks, Melissa-Jane A1 - Huang, D. A1 - Meng, Y. A1 - Chen, X. A1 - Zhou, Y A1 - Lom, S.-F. A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Chen, G. T1 - Efficient sub-15 nm cubic-phase core/Shell upconversion nanoparticles as reporters for ensemble and single particle studies† N2 - Single particle imaging of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) has typically been realized using hexagonal (β) phase lanthanide-doped sodium yttrium fluoride (NaYF4) materials, the upconversion luminescence (UCL) of which saturates at power densities (P) of several hundred W cm−2 under 980 nm nearinfrared (NIR) excitation. Cubic (α) phase UCNPs have been mostly neglected because of their commonly observed lower UCL efficiency at comparable P in ensemble level studies. Here, we describe a set of sub-15 nm ytterbium-enriched α-NaYbF4:Er3+@CaF2 core/shell UCNPs doped with varying Er3+ concentrations (5–25%), studied over a wide P range of ∼8–105 W cm−2, which emit intense UCL even at a low P of 10 W cm−2 and also saturate at relatively low P. The highest upconversion quantum yield (ΦUC) and the highest particle brightness were obtained for an Er3+ dopant concentration of 12%, reaching the highest ΦUC of 0.77% at a saturation power density (Psat) of 110 W cm−2. These 12%Er3+-doped core/shell UCNPs were also the brightest UCNPs among this series under microscopic conditions at high P of ∼102–105 W cm−2 as demonstrated by imaging studies at the single particle level. Our results underline the potential applicability of the described sub-15 nm cubic-phase core/shell UCNPs for ensemble- and single particle- level bioimaging. KW - Nano KW - Nanomaterial KW - Upconversion nanoparticle KW - Lanthanide KW - Photoluminescence KW - Quantum yield KW - Photophysics KW - Lifetime KW - Sensor KW - Surface chemistry KW - Single particle KW - Brightness PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d0nr02172e VL - 12 IS - 19 SP - 10592 EP - 10599 PB - Nanoscale AN - OPUS4-50908 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reed, B. P. A1 - Cant, D.J.H. A1 - Spencer, J. A1 - Carmona-Carmona, A. J. A1 - Bushell, A. A1 - Herrara-Gómez, A. A1 - Kurokawa, A. A1 - Thissen, A. A1 - Thomas, A.G. A1 - Britton, A.J. A1 - Bernasik, A. A1 - Fuchs, A. A1 - Baddorf, A. P. A1 - Bock, B. A1 - Thellacker, B. A1 - Cheng, B. A1 - Castner, D.G. A1 - Morgan, D.J. A1 - Valley, D. A1 - Willneff, E.A. A1 - Smith, E.F. A1 - Nolot, E. A1 - Xie, F. A1 - Zorn, G. A1 - Smith, G.C. A1 - Yasukufu, H. A1 - Fenton, J. L. A1 - Chen, J. A1 - Counsell, J..D.P. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Gaskell, K.J. A1 - Artyushkova, K. A1 - Yang, L. A1 - Zhang, L. A1 - Eguchi, M. A1 - Walker, M. A1 - Hajdyla, M. A1 - Marzec, M.M. A1 - Linford, M.R. A1 - Kubota, N. A1 - Cartazar-Martínez, O. A1 - Dietrich, P. A1 - Satoh, R. A1 - Schroeder, S.L.M. A1 - Avval, T.G. A1 - Nagatomi, T. A1 - Fernandez, V. A1 - Lake, W. A1 - Azuma, Y. A1 - Yoshikawa, Y. A1 - Shard, A.G. T1 - Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on intensity calibration for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instruments using low-density polyethylene N2 - We report the results of a Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on the intensity scale calibration of x-ray photoelectron spectrometers using low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as an alternative material to gold, silver, and copper. An improved set of LDPE reference spectra, corrected for different instrument geometries using a quartz-monochromated Al Kα x-ray source, was developed using data provided by participants in this study. Using these new reference spectra, a transmission function was calculated for each dataset that participants provided. When compared to a similar calibration procedure using the NPL reference spectra for gold, the LDPE intensity calibration method achieves an absolute offset of ∼3.0% and a systematic deviation of ±6.5% on average across all participants. For spectra recorded at high pass energies (≥90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼5.8% and ±5.7%, respectively, whereas for spectra collected at lower pass energies (<90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼4.9% and ±8.8%, respectively; low pass energy spectra perform worse than the global average, in terms of systematic deviations, due to diminished count rates and signal-to-noise ratio. Differences in absolute offset are attributed to the surface roughness of the LDPE induced by sample preparation. We further assess the usability of LDPE as a secondary reference material and comment on its performance in the presence of issues such as variable dark noise, x-ray warm up times, inaccuracy at low count rates, and underlying spectrometer problems. In response to participant feedback and the results of the study, we provide an updated LDPE intensity calibration protocol to address the issues highlighted in the interlaboratory study. We also comment on the lack of implementation of a consistent and traceable intensity calibration method across the community of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) users and, therefore, propose a route to achieving this with the assistance of instrument manufacturers, metrology laboratories, and experts leading to an international standard for XPS intensity scale calibration. KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Transmission function KW - Intensity scale calibration KW - Reference spectra KW - Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000577 VL - 38 IS - 6 SP - 063208 AN - OPUS4-51655 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -