Enhancing the Magnetic–Luminescent Properties of Fe3O4@Y2O3:Eu3+ Core–Shell Bifunctional Particles Using Li+ Doping

Abstract

Magnetic–luminescent nanoparticles are now attracting great attention in biochemistry and biomedicine for their promising bifunctional characteristics. In this work, we propose a strategy of Li+ doping to enhance both the luminescent and magnetic properties of Fe3O4@Y2O3:Eu3+ core–shell particles. A comprehensive investigation of phase assembly, microscopic morphology, luminescence, and magnetic characteristics of the bifunctional particles was carried out. The core–shell structured particles have a spherical morphology and the agglomerated particle size is ~1 μm in diameter. Under 254 nm excitation, the co-doped sample (5 mol-% Li+) with a dominant emission peak at 612 nm, exhibits luminescence 2.35 times more intense than the undoped sample (0 mol-% Li+). Li+ doping also leads to an improved saturation magnetisation, which was 2.41 times greater than the undoped sample.