Terbium and barium codoped mesoporous silica nanoparticles with enhanced optical properties

In this study, we showed for the first time that barium (Ba) codoping improves the luminescent properties of terbium (Tb)-doped SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs). In particular, the quantum yield (QY) of SiO2-Ba,Tb NPs was found to be ∼10.7%, whereas the QY of bare SiO2-Tb NPs was only ∼4.3%. Several mechanisms for luminescence enhancement have been proposed. We strongly believe that this methodology can be used to create alternative silica-based NPs with improved optical characteristics.