Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Shipman, Steven

Area of Concentration

Chemistry

Abstract

Lanthanide-­doped upconverting nanoparticles are particularly useful for biological imaging because they exhibit low toxicity, decreased autofluorescence, strong photostability, and deep tissue penetration when compared to fluorescent dyes and quantum dots. Despite these advantages, their quantum yields and upconversion efficiencies are relatively low. Here, the effects of calcium co-­doping on the fluorescent properties of europium‐doped vanadate nanoparticles synthesized via a solvothermal route were explored. The nanoparticles synthesized were amorphous and thus had very low quantum yields. Elemental analysis showed very little calcium incorporated into the nanoparticles, so differences in fluorescent properties cannot be explained by calcium content. However, the presence of different amount of calcium salts during synthesis may have had kinetic effects on particle growth and crystallinity.

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