TY - CONF A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - How to get it right with photoluminescence measurements in the UV/VIS/NIR N2 - Optical measurements of transparent solutions of organic dyes and semiconductor quantum dots and scattering materials such as luminescent nanocomposites and microparticles and phosphors dispersed in liquid and solid matrices play an important role in energy conversion, solid-state lighting, medical diagnostics, and security barcoding. A key performance parameter is the photoluminescence quantum yield QY, i.e., the number of emitted per number of absorbed photons. QY of transparent luminophore solutions can be obtained relative to a fluorescence QY standard of known QY. Such relative QY measurements require a calibrated spectrofluorometer. Here, we address typical sources of uncertainty for luminescence measurements and relative and absolute QY measurements from the instrument and material side and provide recommendations to circumvent or at least minimize them for transparent and scattering samples in the UV/vis/NIR/SWIR. T2 - Workshop "Photoluminescence Spectroscopy and its application in Materials Research" CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 19.02.2026 KW - Quality assurance KW - Reference material KW - Fluorescence KW - Dye KW - Traceability KW - Metrology KW - Calibration KW - Reference data KW - Reference product KW - Digital certificate KW - NIR KW - Instrument performance validation PY - 2026 AN - OPUS4-65575 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Osiopova, Viktoriia A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Ge, L. A1 - Kitzmann, W. R. A1 - Heinze, K. A1 - Reithofer, M. R. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Complete protection of NIR-luminescent molecular rubies from oxygen quenching in air by L-arginine-mediated silica nanoparticles N2 - The application of emerging luminophores such as near-infrared (NIR) emissive complexes based on earth-abundant chromium as central ion and triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) systems in air as optical reporters for bioimaging or photonic materials for energy conversion requires simple and efficient strategies for their complete protection from uminescence quenching by oxygen. Therefore, we explored the influence of sol–gel synthesis routes on the oxygen protection efficiency of the resulting core and core/shell silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs), utilizing the molecular ruby-type luminophores CrPF6 ([Cr(ddpd)2](PF6)3; ddpd = N,N'-dimethyl-N,N'-dipyridin-2-ylpyridin-2,6-diamine) and CrBF4 ([Cr(ddpd)2](BF4)3) with their oxygendependent, but polarity-, proticity-, viscosity-, and concentration-independent luminescence as optical probes for oxygen permeability. The sol–gel chemistry routes we assessed include the classical Stöber method and the underexplored Larginine approach, which relies on the controlled hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in a biphasic cyclohexane/water system with the catalyst L-arginine. As demonstrated by luminescence measurements of air- and argon-saturated dispersions of CrPF6- and CrBF4-stained SiO2 NPs of different size and particle architecture, utilizing the luminescence decay kinetics of argon-saturated solutions of CrPF6 and CrBF4 in acetonitrile (ACN) as benchmarks, only SiO2 NPs or shells synthesized by the L-arginine approach provided complete oxygen protection of the CrIII complexes under ambient conditions. We ascribe the different oxygen shielding efficiencies of the silica networks explored to differences in density and surface chemistry of the resulting nanomaterials and coatings, leading to different oxygen permeabilities. Our Larginine based silica encapsulation strategy can open the door for the efficient usage of oxygen-sensitive luminophores and TTA-UC systems as optical reporters and spectral shifters in air in the future. KW - Quality assurance KW - Fluorescence KW - Quantification KW - Advanced materials KW - Nano KW - Quantum yield KW - NIR KW - Characterization KW - Electron microscopy KW - Silica KW - Synthesis KW - Oxygen sensing KW - Surface KW - Doping KW - Lifetime KW - Cr(III) complex KW - Shielding KW - Sensing PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-638271 DO - https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2025.94907241 SN - 1998-0000 VL - 18 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - SciOpen AN - OPUS4-63827 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Richter, Maria A1 - Güttler, Arne A1 - Pauli, Jutta A1 - Vogel, K. A1 - Homann, Christian A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Extending certified spectral fluorescence standards for the calibration and performance validation of fluorescence instruments to the NIR—closing the gap from 750 to 940 nm with two novel NIR dyes N2 - Fluorescence techniques such as fluorescence spectroscopy, microfluorometry, and fluorescence microscopy, providing spectral, intensity, polarization, and lifetime information, are amongst the most broadly utilized analytical methods in the life and materials sciences. However, the measured fluorescence data contain sample- and instrument-specific contributions, which hamper their comparability across instruments and laboratories. Comparable, instrument-independent fluorescence data require the determination of the fluorescence instrument’s wavelength-dependent spectral responsivity, also termed emission correction curve, for the same instrument settings as those used for the fluorescence measurements as a prerequisite for the subsequent correction of the measured instrument-specific data. Such a spectral correction is essential for the performance comparison of different fluorescent labels and reporters, quantitative fluorescence measurements, the determination of the fluorescence quantum yield, and the spectroscopic measure for the fluorescence efficiency of a fluorophore. Simple-to-use tools for obtaining emission correction curves are chromophore-based reference materials (RMs), referred to as fluorescence standards, with precisely known, preferably certified instrument-independent fluorescence spectra. However, for the increasingly used near-infrared (NIR) wavelength region >700 nm, at present, no spectral fluorescence standards are available. To close this gap, we developed two novel spectral fluorescence standards, BAM F007 and BAM-F009, with broad emission bands from about 580 to 940 nm in ethanolic solution. These liquid fluorescence standards currently under certification, which will be released in 2025, will expand the wavelength range of the already available certified Calibration Kit BAM F001b-F005b from about 300–730 to 940 nm. In this research article, we will detail the criteria utilized for dye and matrix selection and the homogeneity and stability tests accompanying dye certification as well as the calculation of the wavelength-dependent uncertainty budgets of the emission spectra BAM F007 and BAM-F009, determined with the traceably calibrated BAM reference spectrofluorometer. These fluorescence standards can provide the basis for comparable fluorescence measurements in the ultraviolet, visible, and NIR for the fluorescence community. KW - Quality assurance KW - Reference material KW - Fluorescence KW - Dye KW - Traceability KW - Metrology KW - Calibration KW - Reference data KW - Reference product KW - Digital certificate KW - NIR KW - Instrument performance validation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-626317 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-024-05723-w SN - 1618-2650 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-62631 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Assessing different types of silica networks for the complete protection of nir luminescent molecular rubies from oxygen quenching in air N2 - The application of emerging luminophores such as near-infrared (NIR) emissive earth-abundant chromium(III) (CrIII) complexes and triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) systems in air as optical reporters for bioimaging or photonic materials for energy conversion requires simple and efficient strategies for their complete protection from luminescence quenching by oxygen. Therefore, we explored the influence of sol-gel synthesis routes on the oxygen protection efficiency of the resulting core and core/shell silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs), utilizing the molecular ruby-type luminophores CrPF6 ([Cr(ddpd)2](PF6)3; ddpd = N,N’-dimethyl- N,N’-dipyridin-2-ylpyridin-2,6-diamine) and CrBF4 ([Cr(ddpd)2](BF4)3) with their oxygen-dependent, but polarity-, proticity-, viscosity-, and concentration-independent luminescence as optical probes for oxygen permeability. The sol-gel chemistry routes we assessed include the classical Stöber method and the underexplored larginine approach, which relies on the controlled hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in a biphasic cyclohexane/water system with the catalyst l-arginine. As demonstrated by luminescence measurements of air- and argon-saturated dispersions of CrPF6- and CrBF4-stained SiO2 NPs of different size and particle architecture, utilizing the luminescence decay kinetics of argon-saturated solutions of CrPF6 and CrBF4 in acetonitrile (ACN) as benchmarks, only SiO2 NPs or shells synthesized by the l-arginine approach provided complete oxygen protection of the CrIII complexes under ambient conditions. We ascribe the different oxygen shielding efficiencies of the silica networks explored to differences in density and surface chemistry of the resulting nanomaterials and coatings, leading to different oxygen permeabilities. Our l-arginine based silica encapsulation strategy can open the door for the efficient usage of oxygen-sensitive luminophores and TTA-UC systems as optical reporters and spectral shifters in air in the future. T2 - eMRS Strasbourg CY - Strasbourg, France DA - 26.05.2025 KW - Quality assurance KW - Fluorescence KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Synthesis KW - Quantum yield KW - NIR KW - Mechanism KW - Characterization KW - Electron microscopy KW - Silica KW - Oxygen sensing KW - Surface KW - Doping KW - Lifetime KW - Cr(III) complex PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63300 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Measurements of Photoluminescence Quantum Yields of Scattering LED Converter Materials N2 - How to Get it Right with the Absolute Measurement of Photoluminescence Quantum Yields of Scattering LED Converter Materials Saskia Fiedler+,a, Florian Frenzel+,a, Christian Würth a, Isabella Tavernaro a, Michelle Grüne c, Stefan Schweizer c,d, Axel Engel e, and Ute Resch-Genger a* a Division Biophotonics, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Richard-Willstaetter-Strasse 11, D-12489 Berlin, Germany; email: ute.resch@bam.de b Present address: Photonic Materials, NWO-Institute AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands c Faculty of Electrical Engineering, South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences, Lübecker Ring 2, 59494, Soest, Germany d Fraunhofer Application Center for Inorganic Phosphors, Branch Lab of Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, Lübecker Ring 2, 59494, Soest, Germany e Schott AG Technical Services, Hattenbergstrasse 10, D-55122 Mainz, Germany Optical measurements of scattering materials such as luminescent nano- and microparticles and phosphors dispersed in liquid and solid matrices play an important role in energy conversion, solid-state lighting, medical diagnostics, and security barcoding. A key performance parameter is the photoluminescence quantum yield QY, i.e., the number of emitted per number of absorbed photons. QY of transparent luminophore solutions can be obtained relative to a fluorescence QY standard of known QY, meanwhile available as certified reference materials.[1] The determination of QY of scattering liquid and solid samples like nanoparticle dispersions, phosphors, and optoceramics requires, however, absolute measurements with an integrating sphere setup. Despite the need for reliable absolute QY measurements, no interlaboratory comparison (ILCs) on measurement uncertainties has been performed and scattering standards with known QY are not available. We present the results of an ILC of 3 labs from academia and industry on measurements of transparent and scattering dye solutions and solid phosphors and converter materials like YAG:Ce optoceramics with commercial stand-alone integrating sphere setups of different illumination and detection geometries. Special emphasis was dedicated to the influence of measurement geometry, optical properties of the blank for determining the number of incident photons absorbed by the sample, and sample-specific surface roughness. Matching QY values could be obtained for transparent dye solutions and scattering dispersions with a blank with scattering properties closely matching those of the sample, QY measurements of optoceramic samples with different blanks revealed substantial differences of more than 20 %. Based on our data, we recommend non-absorbing blank materials with a high reflectivity (>95 %) such as a 2 mm-thick PTFE target placed on the sample holder as blanks. T2 - eMRS CY - Strasbourg, France DA - 26.05.2025 KW - Quality assurance KW - Fluorescence KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Quantum yield KW - NIR KW - Characterization KW - Electron microscopy KW - Film KW - Integrating sphere spectroscopy KW - Calibration KW - Lifetime KW - Advanced materials KW - LED converter KW - YAG:Ce KW - ILC KW - Measurement uncertainty KW - Absolute quantum yield PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63327 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Richter, Maria A1 - Güttler, Arne A1 - Pauli, Jutta A1 - Vogel, K. A1 - Homann, Christian A1 - Würth, Christian T1 - Extending Certified Spectral Fluorescence Standards for the Calibration and Performance Validation of Fluorescence Instruments to the NIR – Closing the Gap from 750 nm to 940 nm with Two Novel NIR Dyes N2 - Fluorescence methods provide spectral, intensity, polarization, and lifetime information, which contain sample- and instrument-specific contributions. Fluorescence data, comparable across instruments and laboratories, require validated calibration procedures and certified fluorescence standards. KW - Quality assurance KW - Reference material KW - Fluorescence KW - Dye KW - Traceability KW - Metrology KW - Calibration KW - Reference data KW - Reference product KW - Digital certificate KW - NIR KW - Instrument performance validation PY - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - Springer Nature CY - London AN - OPUS4-62739 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Andreato, E. A1 - Panov, N. A1 - Artiga, A. A1 - Osipova, Viktoriia A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Ximendes, E. A1 - Molina, P. A1 - Canton, P. A1 - Marin, R. T1 - Indium-Based Fluoride Nanoparticles Doped with Chromium for Near-Infrared Luminescence N2 - Transition metal (TM) and rare earth (RE) ion-doped nanoparticles (NPs) are photoluminescent materials of technological relevance in bioimaging, sensing, and light conversion. Fluoride NPs are particularly attractive in this context, since they combine low-energy phonons, high chemical stability, optical transparency, size, and architecture tunability. Yet, nearly all reported colloidal fluoride NPs (e.g., NaYF4 and LiYF4) can only be efficiently doped with RE3+ and not with luminescent TM ions. Herein, we contribute to filling this gap in materials science by reporting Na3InF6 NPs doped with Cr3+ as a model luminescent TM ion. We unveil the heat-driven NP formation mechanism, which involves a cubic-to-monoclinic phase conversion, similarly to the cubic-tohexagonal phase conversion in NaYF4. Reaction temperatures above 225 °C and reaction time have a limited impact on the NP morphology, while the amount of fluoride precursor and oleylamine grants control over the NP size. After verifying that Na3InF6 NPs show negligible cytotoxicity toward U-87 cell line, we study the optical properties of these NPs upon Cr3+ doping. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements indicate that Cr3+ ions experience a weak crystal field in the Na3InF6 host lattice, while their photoluminescence lifetime varies linearly in the 20−50 °C range. These results set the ground for further studies of photoluminescent TM-doped fluoride NPs, toward their applications in bioimaging, sensing, and light-converting devices. KW - Quality assurance KW - Fluorescence KW - Traceability KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Synthesis KW - Quantum yield KW - NIR KW - Mechanism KW - Characterization KW - XRD KW - Phase transition KW - Ligand KW - Surface KW - Doping KW - Lifetime PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c03335 SN - 1520-5002 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - American Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-63073 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Homann, Christian A1 - Peeters, Régis A1 - Mirmajidi, Hana A1 - Berg, Jessica A1 - Fay, Michael A1 - Rodrigues, Lucas Carvalho Veloso A1 - Radicchi, Eros A1 - Jain, Akhil A1 - Speghini, Adolfo A1 - Hemmer, Eva T1 - Rapid microwave-assisted synthesis of morphology-controlled luminescent lanthanide-doped Gd2O2S nanostructures N2 - Gadolinium oxysulfide (Gd2O2S) is an attractive material of demonstrated suitability for a variety of imaging applications, leveraging its magnetic, scintillating, and luminescent properties, particularly when doped with optically active lanthanide ions (Ln3+). For many of these applications, control over size and morphology at the nanoscale is crucial. This study demonstrates the rapid microwave-assisted Synthesis of colloidal Ln2O2S (Ln = Gd and dopants Yb, Er, Tb) nanostructures in as little as 20 min. Structural characterization using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, as well as Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), including elemental mapping via energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), unveiled the key role of elemental sulphur (S8) in the reaction mixtures for materials growth. By systematically varying the Ln-to-S ratio from 1 : 0.5 to 1 : 15, controlled morphologies ranging from triangular nanoplatelets to berry- and flower-like shapes were achieved. Doping with Er3+/Yb3+ endowed the nano-triangles with upconverting and near-infrared emitting properties. Tb3+-doped Gd2O2S exhibited the characteristic green Tb3+ emission under UV excitation, while also showing X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL), rendering the material interesting as a potential nano-scintillator. KW - Upconversion KW - Microwave-assisted synthesis KW - Synthesis KW - Fluorescence KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - NIR KW - XRD KW - X-ray fluoressence KW - Morphology control KW - Raman PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647907 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5TC01646K SN - 2050-7526 VL - 13 IS - 35 SP - 18492 EP - 18507 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64790 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kossatz, Philipp A1 - Mezhov, Alexander A1 - Andresen, Elina A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Schmidt, Wolfram A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Assessing the Applicability of Lanthanide-Based Upconverting Nanoparticles for Optically Monitoring Cement Hydration and Tagging Building Materials N2 - Chemically stable, lanthanide-based photon upconversion micro- and nanoparticles (UCNPs) with their characteristic multicolor emission bands in the ultraviolet (UV), visible (vis), near-infrared (NIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR) arepromising optical reporters and barcoding tags. To assess the applicability of UCNPs for the monitoring of early stage cement hydration processes and as authentication tags for cementitious materials, we screened the evolution of the luminescence of Selfmade core-only NaYF4:Yb,Er UCNPs and commercial μm-sized Y2O2S:Yb,Er particles during the first stages of cement hydration, which largely determines the future properties of the hardened material. Parameters explored from the UCNP side included particle size, morphology, surface chemistry or coating, luminescence properties, and concentration in different cement mixtures. From the cement side, the influence of the mineral composition of the cement matrix was representatively examined for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and its constituents tricalcium aluminate (C3A), tricalcium silicate (C3S), and gypsum at different water to cement ratios. Based on reflection and luminescence measurements, enabling online monitoring, which were complemented by XRD and isothermal heat-flow calorimetric measurements to determine whether the incorporation of these particles could impair cement hydration processes, well suited lanthanide particle reporters could be identified as well as application conditions. In addition, thereby the reporter influence on cement hydration kinetics could be minimized while still preserving a high level of information content. The best performance for the luminescence probing of changes during early stage cement hydration processes was observed for 25 nm-sized oleate (OA)-coated UCNPs added in a concentration of 0.1 wt %. Higher UCNP amounts of 1.0 wt % delayed cement hydration processes size- and surface coatingspecifically in the first 24 h. Subsequent luminescence stability screening studies performed over a period of about one year support the applicability of UCNPs as optical authentication tags for construction materials. KW - Quality assurance KW - Fluorescence KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Synthesis KW - Quantum yield KW - NIR KW - Mechanism KW - Characterization KW - XRD KW - Calorimetry KW - Advanced material KW - Cement KW - Monitoring KW - Surface KW - Size KW - Lifetime KW - Barcode KW - Lanthanide KW - Upconversion KW - Encoding KW - Method PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-638318 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.5c02236 SN - 2470-1343 VL - 10 IS - 29 SP - 31587 EP - 31599 PB - ACS Publications CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-63831 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Cui A1 - Ebel, Kenny A1 - Heinze, Katja A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - Quantum Yield of DNA Strand Breaks under Photoexcitation of a Molecular Ruby N2 - Photodynamic therapy (PDT) used for treating cancer relies on the generation of highly reactive oxygen species, for example, singlet oxygen 1O2, by light-induced excitation of a photosensitizer (PS) in the presence of molecular oxygen, inducing DNA damage in close proximity of the PS. Although many precious metal complexes have been explored as PS for PDT and received clinical approval, only recently, the potential of photoactive complexes of nonnoble metals as PS has been discovered. Using the DNA origami technology that can absolutely quantify DNA strand break cross sections, we assessed the potential of the luminescent transition metal complex [Cr(ddpd)2]3+ (ddpd=N,N’-dimethyl-N,N’-dipyridine-2-ylpyridine-2,6-diamine) to damage DNA in an air-saturated aqueous environment upon UV/Vis illumination. The quantum yield for strand breakage, that is, the ratio of DNA strand breaks to the number of absorbed photons, was determined to 1–4%, indicating efficient transformation of photons into DNA strand breaks by [Cr(ddpd)2]3+. KW - Fluorescence KW - Synthesis KW - Production KW - Optical spectroscopy KW - Ligand KW - Photophysics KW - Cr(III) KW - Mechanism KW - NIR KW - PDT KW - Singlet oxygen KW - DNA KW - Origami KW - Quantum yield PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-573631 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202203719 SP - 1 EP - 7 AN - OPUS4-57363 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -