Upconversion luminescence enhancement of SiO2:Yb3 +, Tb3 + inverse opal photonic crystal by gold nanoparticles

• SiO2:Yb3 +, Tb3 + inverse opals containing gold nanoparticles were synthesized.
• Effect of Au nanoparticles on UC emission of SiO2 inverse opal was studied.
• Enhanced UC emission of SiO2 inverse opal was obtained by Au nanoparticles.

The SiO2:Yb3 +, Tb3 + inverse opal photonic crystals containing gold nanoparticles were prepared by the self-assembly technique combined with a sol–gel method, and their up-conversion luminescence properties have been investigated under the excitation of 980 nm. The upconversion emission bands from the Tb3 + ions were located at 489, 544, 585 and 622 nm in the SiO2:Yb3 +, Tb3 + inverse opals. The influence of Au nanoparticles on the upconversion emission was observed in the SiO2:Yb3 +, Tb3 + inverse opals. The upconversion emission of SiO2:Yb3 +, Tb3 + inverse opals was enhanced, which is from the population increasing of 5D4 luminescent level of Tb3 + ions induced by surface plasmon effects of Au nanoparticles.