Structural determination of light-emitting inorganic nanoparticles with complex core/shell architectures

Complex core/shell nanoparticles are synthesized with multiple rare-earth ions constrained to individual layers (see figure). A detailed analysis of the growth of the complex core/shell architectures through electron microscopy, X-ray analysis, and photoluminescence spectroscopy is presented. It is found that with controlled nucleation, a simple model can be used to predict the internal structure of the nanoparticles.