Monitoring energy distribution of nonradiative energy transfer and reabsorption process in an upconversion nanoparticle detection system

Exploiting the energy transfer (ET) direction is important in nanoscale fluorescent detection systems. In a typical detection system based on ET, the quenching efficiency was evaluated by decrease of donor's emission intensity, but there exists reabsorption process apart from nonradiative ET process. Here, we propose a method to analyze the individual contribution of nonradiative ET and reabsorption to quenching efficiency. These two processes influence in a different way on the nanoplatform consisting of NaYF₄:20%Yb,2%Er UCNPs and a sulfonyl modified cyanine dye. We find that nonradiative ET process contributes more than reabsorption and possesses a better detection sensitivity (2.27 folds). Our work presents a thorough understanding of detection process, which will be conducive in evaluating the sensitivity of similar detection systems.