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.