A New Avenue to Promote Lanthanide Ion Emission

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In this project, funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms B Program of the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation, Professor Ana de Bettencourt-Dias and her research group at the University of Nevada, Reno, decorate the surfaces of diverse nanoparticles with lanthanide ions and assess the ability of these nanoparticles to sensitize lanthanide luminescence. The materials developed have potential application as bioimaging agents. The project involves training of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, in the synthesis of nanoparticles, organic molecules and lanthanide ion complexes, as well as modern emission and absorption spectroscopic techniques. Student researchers gain experience in writing manuscripts describing their research for publication. To further improve the students' ability to write scientific manuscripts, Prof. de Bettencourt-Dias has developed and will continue improving a course on scientific writing. Topics such as strategies to increase writing productivity, outlining of research manuscripts and graduate theses, the ethics of using published sources and resume writing for job searching in industry are included.Lanthanide ions are light emitters due to transitions within the 4f orbitals. These transitions and the light emission are most easily promoted through coordinated chromophores. As part of this project, the nanoparticle surfaces are functionalized with existing and with new ligands that serve to increase their aqueous solubility and biocompatibility; the ligands also coordinate the lanthanide ions and serve as mediators for the energy transfer. With the help of spectroscopic techniques such as fluorescence, the efficiency of the energy transfer will be assessed and parameters will be developed for improvement of the luminescence properties and for the future use of these decorated nanoparticles in bioimaging applications.