Sequential coating upconversion NaYF4:Yb,Tm nanocrystals with SiO2 and ZnO layers for NIR-driven photocatalytic and antibacterial applications.

ZnO is one of the most promising materials for both photocatalytic and antibacterial applications, but its wide bandgap requires the excitation of UV light which limits their applications under visible and NIR bands. Herein, we demonstrate a facile approach to synthesize core-shell-shell hybrid nanoparticles consisting of hexagonal NaYF4:Yb,Tm, amorphous SiO2 and wurtzite ZnO. The upconversion nanocrystals are used as the core seeds and sequentially coated with an insulting shell and a semiconductor layer. Such hybrid nanoparticles can efficiently utilize the NIR light through the upconverting process, and display notable photocatalytic performance and antibacterial activity under NIR irradiation. The developed NaYF4:Yb,Tm@SiO2@ZnO nanoparticles are characterized with TEM, XRD, EDS, XPS and PL spectra, and their working mechanism is also elucidated.