Precisely Tailoring Upconversion Dynamics via Energy Migration in Core–Shell Nanostructures

Upconversion emission dynamics have long been believed to be determined by the activator and its interaction with neighboring sensitizers. Herein this assumption is, however, shown to be invalid for nanostructures. We demonstrate that excitation energy migration greatly affects upconversion emission dynamics. "Dopant ions' spatial separation" nanostructures are designed as model systems and the intimate link between the random nature of energy migration and upconversion emission time behavior is unraveled by theoretical modelling and confirmed spectroscopically. Based on this new fundamental insight, we have successfully realized fine control of upconversion emission time behavior (either rise or decay process) by tuning the energy migration paths in various specifically designed nanostructures. This result is significant for applications of this type of materials in super resolution spectroscopy, high-density data storage, anti-counterfeiting, and biological imaging.