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The long-standing debate about the morphology of colloidal methylammonium lead bromide perovskites nanocrystals, manufactured by our nontemplate synthetic strategy reported in 2014, is now resolved; specifically, the highest green emissive single nanoplatelets (of up to 93%) with long-term chemical and photochemical stability have been obtained after suitable purification steps., We thank MICINN (CTQ2017-82711-P, PID2020-115710GB-100/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), MINECO (MMU Unit of Excellence “Maria de Maeztu” CEX2019-000919-M) and Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2019/080 and IDIFEDER/2018/064), all of them partially co-financed with FEDER funds. I. R-P. acknowledges the support from Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU17/05564). L. P. acknowledges the support from MINECO through Ramón y Cajal grant (RYC2018-026103-I) and the Spanish State Research Agency (Grant No. PID2020-117371RA-I00), from the Xunta de Galicia (ED431F2021/05). The HRSTEM measurements were performed in the Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas (LMA) at the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). R. A. acknowledges funding from the Spanish MICINN (project grant PID2019-104739GB-100/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), the Government of Aragon (project DGA E13- 20R) and European Union H2020 program “ESTEEM3” (823717).

Photophysical characterization of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and nanohybrids (UCNHs) is more challenging than that of down-conversion nanomaterials. Moreover, it is still difficult to gain knowledge about the homogeneity of the sample and colocalization of emissive chromophores and nanoparticles in nanohybrids. Near infrared laser scanning microscopy (NIR-LSM) is a well-known and useful imaging technique, which enables excitation in the NIR region and has been extensively applied to optical fluorescence imaging of organic fluorophores and nanomaterials, such as quantum dots, which exhibit a short-lived emission. NIR-LSM has recently been used to determine the empirical emission lifetime of UCNPs, thus extending its application range to nanomaterials with a long lifetime emission. Here, we review our previous findings and include new measurements and samples to fully address the potential of this technique. NIR-LSM has proved to be extraordinarily useful not only for photophysical characterization of UCNHs consisting of UCNPs capped with a fluorophore to easily visualize the occurrence of the resonance energy transfer process between the UCNH constituents and their homogeneity, but also to assess the colocalization of the fluorophore and the UCNP in the UCNH; all this information can be acquired on the micro-/nano-meter scale by just taking one image.

Up to now, most strategies to build efficient 800 nm-light responsive upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have included onion-layered structures, in which Nd3+ is confined within the inorganic crystal structure of at least one layer. We report here an easy room-temperature modular preparation of core-shell UCNPs consisting of NaYF4:Yb,Er(Tm)/NaYF4 (UCCS) with Nd3+ anchored at the organic capping by using cucurbituril[7] (CB[7]) as an adhesive. Strikingly, excitation at 800 nm effectively triggers the upconversion emission of UCCS@CB[7]@Nd nanohybrids.

Correction for ‘NIR laser scanning microscopy for photophysical characterization of upconversion nanoparticles and nanohybrids’ by Juan Ferrera-González et al., Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 10067–10080, DOI: 10.1039/D1NR00389E.

Up to now, most strategies to build efficient 800 nm-light responsive upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have included onion-layered structures, in which Nd3+ is confined within the inorganic crystal structure of at least one layer. We report here an easy room-temperature modular preparation of core-shell UCNPs consisting of NaYF4:Yb,Er(Tm)/NaYF4 (UCCS) with Nd3+ anchored at the organic capping by using cucurbituril[7] (CB[7]) as an adhesive. Strikingly, excitation at 800 nm effectively triggers the upconversion emission of UCCS@CB[7]@Nd nanohybrids.

Steady-state and time-resolved emission studies on nanohybrids consisting of NaYF4:Yb,Er and a diiodo-substituted Bodipy (UCNP-IBDP) show that the Yb(3+) metastable state, formed after absorption of a near-infrared (NIR) photon, can decay via two competitive energy transfer processes: sensitization of IBDP after absorption of a second NIR photon and population of Er(3+) excited states.

Spontaneous adsorption of cucurbit[n]uril CB[n] (n = 6, 7, and 8) on the surface of naked upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), in particular, NaYF4:Er3+(2%),Yb3+(18%) gave rise to UCNP@CB[n] exclusion complexes. These complexes proved to be highly stable as well as highly emissive under near-infrared excitation. By using two tricyclic basic dyes (specifically, methylene blue and pyronin Y) as a proof of concept, we demonstrate that the UCNP@CB[n] (n = 6, 7) nanohybrids can form exclusion complexes with this type of dyes via the CB carbonyl free portal, i.e., UCNP@CB@dye hybrids, thus making it possible to locate a high concentration of the dyes close to the UCNP and, consequently, leading to efficient energy transfer from the UCNP to the dye.