{"id":582269,"date":"2025-11-20T09:56:43","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T09:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582269\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T09:56:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T09:56:43","slug":"triplets-electrically-turn-on-insulating-lanthanide-doped-nanoparticles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582269\/","title":{"rendered":"Triplets electrically turn on insulating lanthanide-doped nanoparticles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LnNPs consist of an inorganic insulating host, typically fluorides or oxides such as NaGd\/Y\/LuF4 with a large energy gap of approximately 8\u2009eV (ref.\u2009<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 6\" title=\"Huang, B., Dong, H., Wong, K.-L., Sun, L.-D. &amp; Yan, C.-H. Fundamental view of electronic structures of &#x3B2;-NaYF4, &#x3B2;-NaGdF4, and &#x3B2;-NaLuF4. J. Phys. Chem. C 120, 18858&#x2013;18870 (2016).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR6\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e593\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">6<\/a>), with lanthanide ions embedded in the host lattice. LnNPs have high photo and chemical stability in various environments and have narrow and tunable emission in the NIR-II range (1,000\u20131,700\u2009nm). This is in contrast to semiconductor-based systems, such as NIR-II emissive organic dyes or semiconducting colloidal quantum dots (QDs), which show broad emission spectra in this region owing to homogeneous broadening. This has motivated research into the application of LnNPs in stimulated-emission depletion microscopy<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 7\" title=\"Liang, L. et al. Continuous-wave near-infrared stimulated-emission depletion microscopy using downshifting lanthanide nanoparticles. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 975&#x2013;980 (2021).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR7\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e597\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">7<\/a>, deep-tissue theranostics<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 4\" title=\"Fan, Y. et al. Lifetime-engineered NIR-II nanoparticles unlock multiplexed in vivo imaging. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 941&#x2013;946 (2018).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR4\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e601\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Yu, Z., Chan, W. K. &amp; Tan, T. T. Y. Neodymium-sensitized nanoconstructs for near-infrared enabled photomedicine. Small 16, 1905265 (2020).\" href=\"#ref-CR8\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e604\">8<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Fang, Z. et al. Oxyhaemoglobin saturation NIR-IIb imaging for assessing cancer metabolism and predicting the response to immunotherapy. Nat. Nanotechnol. 19, 124&#x2013;130 (2023).\" href=\"#ref-CR9\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e604_1\">9<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 10\" title=\"Pei, P. et al. X-ray-activated persistent luminescence nanomaterials for NIR-II imaging. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 1011&#x2013;1018 (2021).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR10\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e607\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10<\/a>, sensing<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 11\" title=\"Liu, L. et al. Er3+ sensitized 1530 nm to 1180 nm second near-infrared window upconversion nanocrystals for in vivo biosensing. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 57, 7518&#x2013;7522 (2018).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR11\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">11<\/a> and optical communication<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 12\" title=\"Liu, Y. et al. A photonic integrated circuit-based erbium-doped amplifier. Science 376, 1309&#x2013;1313 (2022).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR12\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e616\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">12<\/a>. However, as these systems are not semiconductors, they cannot be used to construct electrically driven devices, as can be done for colloidal QDs<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 13\" title=\"Kim, T. et al. Efficient and stable blue quantum dot light-emitting diode. Nature 586, 385&#x2013;389 (2020).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR13\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e620\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">13<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 14\" title=\"Deng, Y. et al. Solution-processed green and blue quantum-dot light-emitting diodes with eliminated charge leakage. Nat. Photonics 16, 505&#x2013;511 (2022).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR14\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e623\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">14<\/a>, metal halide perovskites<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Sun, Y. et al. Bright and stable perovskite light-emitting diodes in the near-infrared range. Nature 615, 830&#x2013;835 (2023).\" href=\"#ref-CR15\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e627\">15<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Jiang, Y. et al. Synthesis-on-substrate of quantum dot solids. Nature 612, 679&#x2013;684 (2022).\" href=\"#ref-CR16\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e627_1\">16<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 17\" title=\"Kim, J. S. et al. Ultra-bright, efficient and stable perovskite light-emitting diodes. Nature 611, 688&#x2013;694 (2022).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR17\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e630\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">17<\/a> or organic semiconductors<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 18\" title=\"Aizawa, N. et al. Delayed fluorescence from inverted singlet and triplet excited states. Nature 609, 502&#x2013;506 (2022).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR18\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e634\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">18<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 19\" title=\"Zhang, Z. et al. High-brightness all-polymer stretchable LED with charge-trapping dilution. Nature 603, 624&#x2013;630 (2022).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR19\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e637\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">19<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It has previously been shown that triplet excitons on organic molecules can couple to the f-f transitions in lanthanide ions and that this enables TET between organic molecules and LnNPs<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 20\" title=\"Han, S. et al. Lanthanide-doped inorganic nanoparticles turn molecular triplet excitons bright. Nature 587, 594&#x2013;599 (2020).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR20\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e644\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20<\/a>. Organic dye sensitization has proved effective to enhance the emission of LnNPs<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Wang, X. et al. Dye-sensitized lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles. Chem. Soc. Rev. 46, 4150&#x2013;4167 (2017).\" href=\"#ref-CR21\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e648\">21<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Garfield, D. J. et al. Enrichment of molecular antenna triplets amplifies upconverting nanoparticle emission. Nat. Photonics 12, 402&#x2013;407 (2018).\" href=\"#ref-CR22\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e648_1\">22<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Shao, W. et al. Tunable narrow band emissions from dye-sensitized core\/shell\/shell nanocrystals in the second near-infrared biological window. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 138, 16192&#x2013;16195 (2016).\" href=\"#ref-CR23\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e648_2\">23<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Yu, Z. et al. Dye-sensitized lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles for water detection in organic solvents. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 4, 14069&#x2013;14076 (2021).\" href=\"#ref-CR24\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e648_3\">24<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 25\" title=\"Tew, A. et al. Heterostructures enhance the absorption of lanthanides. Appl. Phys. Rev. 11, 021329 (2024).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR25\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e651\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">25<\/a>. Here we use molecular triplet excitons to mediate the function of electrically driven LnNP-based optoelectronic devices, using triplets to efficiently turn on these insulating materials. The first step in this process is to engineer the coupling between organic molecules and LnNPs. The inset of Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1a<\/a> shows a schematic of the LnNP. The as-prepared LnNPs have oleic acid (OA) on the surface. However, OA is an insulating ligand, which cannot mediate electrical excitation. We therefore partially replace OA with 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid (9-ACA), a widely studied organic dye with a singlet energy of 3.2\u2009eV and triplet energy around 1.8\u2009eV (ref.\u2009<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 26\" title=\"Lai, R. et al. Shallow distance-dependent triplet energy migration mediated by endothermic charge-transfer. Nat. Commun. 12, 1532 (2021).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR26\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e658\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">26<\/a>). As shown in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1b<\/a>, the triplet energy level of 9-ACA (ref.\u2009<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 27\" title=\"Reineke, S. &amp; Baldo, M. A. Room temperature triplet state spectroscopy of organic semiconductors. Sci. Rep. 4, 3797 (2014).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR27\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e666\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">27<\/a>) can, in principle, allow for TET to the ladder-like energy levels of Ln3+ ions (Ln\u2009=\u2009Nd,\u2009Yb,\u2009Er). These hybrid materials allow us to construct the first LnLEDs.<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"Fig1\" class=\"c-article-section__figure-caption\" data-test=\"figure-caption-text\">Fig. 1: Fabrication of LnNP-based NIR-II LEDs.<\/b><a class=\"c-article-section__figure-link\" data-test=\"img-link\" data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"image\" data-track-action=\"view figure\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y\/figures\/1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"Fig1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/41586_2025_9601_Fig1_HTML.png\" alt=\"figure 1\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"685\" height=\"436\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>a<\/b>, Schematic illustration of the device architecture of LnLEDs with a close-up schematic of LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids. <b>b<\/b>, Simplified schematic showing electron and hole injection through organic molecules to turn on lanthanide ions in an insulating host lattice.\u00a0CB, conduction band; VB, valence band. <b>c<\/b>, Normalized EL spectra of LnLEDs.\u00a0a.u., arbitrary units. <b>d<\/b>, Reported FWHMs of the EL at different wavelengths from different types of LED, including LnLEDs and QD\u2009LEDs.<\/p>\n<p>Figure <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1a<\/a> shows the device architecture of LnLEDs, consisting of glass\/indium tin oxide (ITO)\/poly(ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)\/poly(4-butylphenyl-diphenylamine) (poly-TPD)\/LnNP@9-ACA\/1,3,5-tris(3-pyridyl-3-phenyl)benzene (TmPyPB)\/lithium fluoride (LiF)\/aluminium (Al). ITO and LiF\/Al function as electrodes. PEDOT:PSS acts as hole injection layer. TmPyPB and poly-TPD serve as electron and hole transport layers (ETL and HTL), respectively. The LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids serve as the light-emitting layer. Electrons and holes injected from the contacts travel through the charge transport layers and recombine on the 9-ACA ligands. This will lead to the formation of singlet and triplet excitons on 9-ACA in a 1:3 ratio as governed by the spin\u2013statistics theorem. We note that triplet excitons can undergo efficient energy transfer to the Ln3+ ions as shown in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1b<\/a> and as experimentally demonstrated in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3<\/a>. The Ln3+ ions can then emit photons, leading to EL from the device. We keep the device architecture constant but vary the type of Ln3+ ions doped into the LnNPs to achieve a range of EL emission from 1,000 to 1,533\u2009nm.<\/p>\n<p>Figure <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1c<\/a> shows the EL spectra obtained from the LnLEDs. The spectra are narrow and consistent with the main peaks of NIR-II photoluminescence (PL) spectra of LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids under 350-nm photoexcitation. The full widths at half maximum (FWHMs) of LnLEDs EL spectra are calculated to be 20, 43 and 55\u2009nm for Nd\/Yb\/ErLEDs, which are much lower than the FWHMs found in semiconducting QDs\/bulk materials-based systems (FWHM normally above 150\u2009nm)<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 5\" title=\"Vasilopoulou, M. et al. Advances in solution-processed near-infrared light-emitting diodes. Nat. Photonics 15, 656&#x2013;669 (2021).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR5\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e728\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">5<\/a> (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1d<\/a>). The large FWHM of QD\u2009LEDs, which is limited by homogeneous line broadening, creates complications for their use in optical communication and chemical\/biomedical imaging\/sensing applications. The narrow linewidths we achieve here, combined with the inherent ease of processing, flexibility, wide-area compatibility and potential low cost of organic\u2013LnNP hybrids offers exciting possibilities for a new generation of light sources across the NIR-II range. A quantitative comparison of our LnLEDs and other NIR-II LEDs and laser diodes is included in Supplementary Tables <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1<\/a> and <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To obtain high-quality NIR-II light-emitting layers, we synthesized uniform and ultrasmall (1). The dopant ratio of fluorescent Ln3+ (Ln\u2009=\u2009Nd,\u2009Yb,\u2009Er) ions has been fixed to 20\u2009mol% in the form of NaGd0.8F4:Ln0.2, which will be subsequently referred to as NdNPs, YbNPs and ErNPs, respectively. This dopant ratio guarantees that enough fluorescent Ln3+ ions receive energy transferred from organic molecules and a fair comparison of energy transfer efficiencies among different Ln3+ ions, while avoiding severe cross-relaxation to maintain a relatively high NIR-II fluorescence<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 28\" title=\"Yu, Z. et al. Generating new cross-relaxation pathways by coating Prussian blue on NaNdF4 to fabricate enhanced photothermal agents. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 58, 8536&#x2013;8540 (2019).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR28\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e761\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">28<\/a>. The high-resolution TEM images and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that these LnNPs are hexagonal phase (Supplementary Figs. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2<\/a> and <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>As shown in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2a<\/a>, the LnNPs show weak and narrow absorption peaks, which is one of the key limitations of LnNPs for various applications. Coupling 9-ACA onto the surface of LnNPs endows LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids with strong absorption in the ultraviolet range (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2b<\/a>). The absorption of these nanohybrids is hence dominated by organic molecules and overcomes the aforementioned limitation of LnNPs. LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids also show a 5-nm redshift of absorption compared with pure 9-ACA owing to the coupling between organic molecules and LnNPs (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4<\/a>). Investigations of the ligand exchange process using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and corresponding density functional theory (DFT) simulations (see Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2c,d<\/a> and Supplementary Figs. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">5<\/a>\u2013<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">7<\/a> for details) indicate that the 9-ACA preferentially binds to the Ln3+ ion site on the surface of the LnNPs, in contrast to the OA, which also binds to the Na+ sites. DFT-predicted FTIR spectra of 9-ACA bonded to Gd3+ reproduces the experimentally observed spectrum, whereas 9-ACA bonded to Na+ does not, and introduces peaks at 1,600\u2009cm\u22121, which are not observed (vertical lines in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2c<\/a>). DFT-predicted FTIR spectra for OA show peaks shared at 1,450 and 1,590\u2009cm\u22121 for OA bonded to Na+ or Gd3+ (vertical lines in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2d<\/a>). On the basis of the FTIR data, we estimate the replacement ratios of 9-ACA on different LnNPs to be 6.8%, 1.0% and 3.6% for NdNPs, YbNPs and ErNPs, respectively (Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1<\/a> and Supplementary Table <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3<\/a>). The important point here is the preferential\u00a0binding of 9-ACA to the Ln3+ ion sites, which will promote efficient energy transfer.<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"Fig2\" class=\"c-article-section__figure-caption\" data-test=\"figure-caption-text\">Fig. 2: Characterization of the LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrid system.<\/b><a class=\"c-article-section__figure-link\" data-test=\"img-link\" data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"image\" data-track-action=\"view figure\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y\/figures\/2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"Fig2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/41586_2025_9601_Fig2_HTML.png\" alt=\"figure 2\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"685\" height=\"506\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>a<\/b>,<b>b<\/b>, Absorption spectra of LnNPs (<b>a<\/b>) and LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids (<b>b<\/b>). <b>c<\/b>, DFT-simulated FTIR spectra of free 9-ACA molecules, bound 9-ACA molecules to Gd3+ and Na+ ions and experimental data of YbNP@9-ACA nanohybrids. <b>d<\/b>, DFT-simulated FTIR spectra of free OA molecules, bound OA molecules to Gd3+ and Na+ ions and experimental data of OA-capped YbNPs. <b>e<\/b>, Comparison of NIR-II emission between LnNPs and LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids under the excitation of a 350-nm lamp (concentration 20\u2009mg\u2009ml\u22121).<\/p>\n<p>Ligand exchange is a dynamic process and can be influenced by numerous factors. We find that the ligand exchange rate is first increased by prolonging the reaction time and then reaches a plateau, by monitoring the absorbance change of YbNP@9-ACA nanohybrids and PL excitation spectra (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">8<\/a>). We observe that the energy transfer efficiency is not greatly influenced by the ligand exchange rate when the ligand exchange process reaches an equilibrium (Supplementary Figs. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">8d\u2013f<\/a> and <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">9<\/a>). We also note that the short distance between 9-ACA and the surface of the LnNPs, linked by the carboxyl group, should allow for efficient TET, as this process is considered to be a Dexter-type energy transfer process. As well as the TET, energy transfer from the singlet state of the 9-ACA to the Ln3+ ions is also possible by means of F\u00f6rster resonance energy transfer (FRET), although the low absorption cross-section of the Ln3+ ions and poor spectral overlap with the 9-ACA blue emission make this process inefficient<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 29\" title=\"van Turnhout, L. et al. Distance-independent efficiency of triplet energy transfer from &#x3C0;-conjugated organic ligands to lanthanide-doped nanoparticles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 22612&#x2013;22621 (2024).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR29\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e893\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">29<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As shown in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2e<\/a>, the coupling of organic molecules leads to a notable enhancement of the NIR-II emission under ultraviolet excitation, achieving a large Stokes shift. The LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids show 6.6-fold, 34.1-fold and 23.6-fold enhancement in NIR-II PL compared with NdNPs, YbNPs and ErNPs, respectively. The NIR photoluminescence quantum efficiencies (PLQEs) of LnNPs and LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids are measured in Supplementary Table <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4<\/a>. Tuning the doping ratio of Ln3+ is a straightforward and effective approach to enhance the fluorescent performance of LnNPs. Increasing the doping ratio of Yb3+ would substantially enhance the downconversion intensities for both YbNPs and YbNP@9-ACA nanohybrids (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10<\/a>), for which cross-relaxation between Yb3+ ions is not a notable loss, unlike in Er3+ and Nd3+. The ratios of several peaks in the NIR-II EL have changed compared with the PL spectra, indicating distinct energy transfer mechanisms under photoexcitation and electroexcitation for LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids. To study the energy transfer mechanisms, we further perform steady-state PL, PL decay and transient absorption measurements. Owing to the different amounts of attached 9-ACA in the nanohybrids, we cannot directly compare the intensity of the visible PL to determine the efficiency of the energy transfer (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3a<\/a>). PLQE measurements show that bound 9-ACA molecules on LnNPs have markedly decreased PLQE compared with pristine 9-ACA (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">11<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"Fig3\" class=\"c-article-section__figure-caption\" data-test=\"figure-caption-text\">Fig. 3: Energy transfer from organic molecules to LnNPs.<\/b><a class=\"c-article-section__figure-link\" data-test=\"img-link\" data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"image\" data-track-action=\"view figure\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y\/figures\/3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"Fig3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/41586_2025_9601_Fig3_HTML.png\" alt=\"figure 3\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"685\" height=\"626\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>a<\/b>, Visible emission spectra of LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids. <b>b<\/b>, TCSPC measurements of pristine 9-ACA and LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids under 405-nm laser excitation. <b>c<\/b>, Schematic demonstration of the accelerated triplet generation by fast ISC when coupling Ln3+ ions and their corresponding energy transfer pathways involving both FRET and TET from organic molecules to Ln3+ ions. <b>d<\/b>, Kinetics of singlet decay, triplet growth and decay in pristine 9-ACA molecules and molecules attached to different types of LnNPs.<\/p>\n<p>Figure <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3b<\/a> shows time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) results for Nd\/Yb\/ErNP@9-ACA nanohybrids. The lifetime of emission from 9-ACA decreased from 7.97\u2009ns for the pristine ligand to 3.14, 6.77 and 6.94\u2009ns for 9-ACA molecules bound onto Nd\/Yb\/ErNPs, respectively. Owing to the inevitable presence of free 9-ACA molecules in the nanohybrid solution samples, TCSPC results can merely indicate that energy transfer occurs within the nanohybrids but cannot provide a quantitative analysis of energy transfer efficiency. Hence, pump\u2013probe spectroscopy is applied to reveal the dynamics of photoexcitation and energy transfer between 9-ACA and LnNPs. As shown in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3d<\/a>, the S1 states of 9-ACA on NdNP, YbNP and ErNP decay with time constants of 1.91, 2.72 and 2.51\u2009ns, respectively, which is much shorter than the singlet of the pristine 9-ACA and GdNP@9-ACA nanohybrids, which show decay time constants of 12.40 and 4.68\u2009ns, respectively. The rise time constants of the triplet excitons (T1) are measured to be 1.93, 1.41 and 1.39\u2009ns for Nd\/Yb\/ErNP@9-ACA nanohybrids, respectively. By contrast, the pristine 9-ACA presents a triplet rise time of more than 12.97\u2009ns (Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2<\/a>). This indicates that the singlets of 9-ACA coupled onto LnNPs all undergo rapid intersystem crossing (ISC) and LnNPs increase the rate of the ISC (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3c<\/a>), consistent with previous results on the coupling of triplet excitons to the unpaired spin of the doped lanthanide ions<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 20\" title=\"Han, S. et al. Lanthanide-doped inorganic nanoparticles turn molecular triplet excitons bright. Nature 587, 594&#x2013;599 (2020).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR20\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e981\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Figure <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3d<\/a> also shows much faster decays of the T1 state in Nd\/Yb\/ErNP@9-ACA nanohybrids compared with the T1 state decay of pristine 9-ACA and GdNP@9-ACA nanohybrids (see also Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">12<\/a>). These faster decays are caused by the energy transfer from 9-ACA to the 2F5\/2 level of YbNPs, 4F3\/2 level of NdNPs and 4I11\/2 levels of ErNPs, as GdNPs do not have energy levels available for energy transfer (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1b<\/a>). The efficiencies of TET are calculated to be 98.8%, 99.8% and 99.4% for Nd\/Yb\/ErNP@9-ACA nanohybrids, respectively, based on the quenching of the triplet lifetime compared with GdNP@9-ACA (Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2<\/a>). Both the efficient TET and the less efficient singlet FRET will contribute to the NIR emission of different LnNPs under light excitation. We measured the NIR PL intensities of YbNP@9-ACA nanohybrids under the O2-free and air exposure conditions (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">13<\/a>). The NIR PL in air was quenched by 53.3%, which is consistent with O2 quenching the triplet state of 9-ACA. This further suggests that energy transfer from 9-ACA to LnNPs is mainly mediated by TET. We note three important points about the TET to LnNPs. First, the lifetime of the triplet exciton on 9-ACA is longer than 300\u2009\u00b5s, whereas the TET times are on the order of several microseconds. This means that the triplets on the ligands provide a long-lived state from which energy transfer can occur, with few competing kinetic processes, enabling highly efficient transfer (&gt;98%). Second, in Dexter energy transfer, which is the mechanism for TET to LnNPs, the spectral overlap between the triplet phosphorescence spectrum and acceptor absorption spectrum is an important factor<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 20\" title=\"Han, S. et al. Lanthanide-doped inorganic nanoparticles turn molecular triplet excitons bright. Nature 587, 594&#x2013;599 (2020).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR20\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e1025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20<\/a>. The phosphorescence spectrum of 9-ACA, which has been reported previously, is broad (roughly 1.3\u20131.9\u2009eV)<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 27\" title=\"Reineke, S. &amp; Baldo, M. A. Room temperature triplet state spectroscopy of organic semiconductors. Sci. Rep. 4, 3797 (2014).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR27\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e1029\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">27<\/a>, overlapping with numerous levels within the Ln3+ and\u00a0allowing for TET. Third, although singlet transfer from the S1 state of 9-ACA to the Ln3+ levels is also possible, the short lifetime of the pristine singlet (12.4\u2009ns), which is further reduced by ISC when attached to the Ln3+ ions with unpaired spins (3+ ions. The TET pathway is thus the dominant energy transfer pathway and key to enabling the fabrication of optoelectronic devices.<\/p>\n<p>We now turn to the structural characterization of LnLEDs. A schematic of the device structure with flat-band energy levels is shown in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4a<\/a>. The device structure is designed to enable charge injection into 9-ACA, leading to exciton formation and subsequent energy transfer to the LnNP. The high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) image of the cross-section of the YbLEDs shows the multilayer structure of the hybrid device. The corresponding elemental mapping of the cross-section of the YbLEDs demonstrates a uniform distribution of Yb and Gd elements within the light-emitting layer (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4b<\/a> and Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">14<\/a>), which is consistent with the scanning electron microscope results of LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids on PEDOT:PSS\/ITO substrates spin-coated at different rotation speeds (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">15<\/a>). Grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) measurements confirm that LnNP@OA and LnNP@9-ACA films on poly-TPD\/PEDOT:PSS\/ITO do not form a superlattice (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">16<\/a>), with either OA or 9-ACA ligands. The thicknesses of the layers are 25\u2009nm (ITO), 20\u2009nm (PEDOT:PSS), 80\u2009nm (poly-TPD), 15\u2009nm (YbNP@9-ACA), 80\u2009nm (TmPyPB) and 100\u2009nm (LiF\/Al), respectively (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4b<\/a>). These thicknesses are chosen to enable a relatively high light-extraction efficiency from the emitting layer of the LnLEDs, in the NIR spectral region, as shown in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4c<\/a> (see Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3<\/a> for details).<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"Fig4\" class=\"c-article-section__figure-caption\" data-test=\"figure-caption-text\">Fig. 4: Characterization and optimization of NIR-II LnLEDs.<\/b><a class=\"c-article-section__figure-link\" data-test=\"img-link\" data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"image\" data-track-action=\"view figure\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y\/figures\/4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"Fig4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/41586_2025_9601_Fig4_HTML.png\" alt=\"figure 4\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"685\" height=\"580\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>a<\/b>, Energy band diagram of LnLEDs. <b>b<\/b>, Cross-sectional HAADF\u2009STEM image of the YbLED and corresponding element mapping of different layers.\u00a0Scale bars, 50\u2009nm. <b>c<\/b>, Simulated light-extraction efficiency of the LnLED as a function of emitting wavelength in the NIR range. <b>d<\/b>\u2013<b>f<\/b>, Current density and NIR radiance (measured with corresponding long-pass filters) versus voltage for different LnLEDs. <b>g<\/b>, NIR\u2009EQEs of the NdLED\/YbLED\/ErLED versus current densities. <b>h<\/b>, Normalized EL spectrum of the Yb@NdLED. <b>i<\/b>, NIR\u2009EQE enhancement by using core\u2013shell Yb@Nd\u2009LnNPs and optimizing the device structure.<\/p>\n<p>The NIR-II EL spectra of Nd\/Yb\/ErLEDs show sharp peaks centred at 1,058, 976 and 1,533\u2009nm, respectively. No shifts in peak emission wavelength were observed under varying driving voltages (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">17<\/a>). Owing to the ladder-like energy levels of LnNPs, there are several peaks for Nd\/ErLEDs. The EL of the presented LnLEDs also involves visible-range emission (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">18<\/a>). We assign the blue EL to poly-TPD HTL. The red emission arises from the interface of directly contacted HTL and ETL in the voids of the monolayer LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 30\" title=\"Yin, Y. et al. White-light-emitting organic electroluminescent devices with poly-TPD as emitting layer. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 28, 19148&#x2013;19154 (2017).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR30\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e1126\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">30<\/a>. No clear EL from 9-ACA is observed, confirming the efficient ISC and TET in the LnNP@9-ACA nanohybrids. The visible EL features suggest electron leakage from ETL or LnNP@9-ACA to poly-TPD, which acts as an efficiency loss channel for the EQEs of LnLEDs.<\/p>\n<p>The current density\u2013voltage\u2013radiance curves of these LnLEDs are shown in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4g\u2013i<\/a>. The turn-on voltages for LnLEDs, defined by the voltage corresponding to the minimum measurable radiance in our set-up (0.01\u2009mW\u2009sr\u22121\u2009m\u22122; see Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">19<\/a>), are all around 5\u2009V. The LnLEDs can endure high voltages up to 15\u2009V. As most of the triplets in organic molecules have been transferred to the robust LnNPs, the triplet-induced degradation in LnLEDs could be suppressed. This could allow the LnLEDs to function under high voltages. The peak radiances of the Nd\/Yb\/ErLEDs are 1.2, 1.2 and 0.4\u2009mW\u2009sr\u22121\u2009m\u22122, respectively (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4d\u2013f<\/a>). The peak EQEs of the Nd\/Yb\/ErLEDs in the NIR regime are around 0.01%, 0.04% and 0.004%, respectively (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4g<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The moderate EQEs are limited by the PLQE of the highly doped core-only LnNPs, charge leakage across the emitting layer (indicated by Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">18<\/a>) and the decreased light-extraction efficiency in the NIR-II range (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4c<\/a>). To further boost the NIR\u2009EQEs of LnLEDs, we fabricated core\u2013shell Yb@Nd\u2009LnNPs in the form of NaGd0.8F4:Yb0.2@NaGd0.4F4:Nd0.6 to substantially increase the PLQE of Yb@Nd@9-ACA nanohybrids to 3% under 375-nm excitation (Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4<\/a>). Figure <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4i<\/a> compares the NIR\u2009EQEs of the Yb@NdLEDs that use this core\u2013shell configuration, together with further optimized HTL with better hole-injection and electron-blocking properties<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 14\" title=\"Deng, Y. et al. Solution-processed green and blue quantum-dot light-emitting diodes with eliminated charge leakage. Nat. Photonics 16, 505&#x2013;511 (2022).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR14\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e1182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">14<\/a> and a light out-coupling half-ball lens on substrate. These strategies can suppress the efficiency losses in LnLEDs, eventually boosting the peak NIR\u2009EQE of Yb@NdLEDs to greater than 0.6%. We note that the peak EQEs of the LnLEDs are higher than most organic LEDs (OLEDs) emitting above 1,000\u2009nm (ref.\u2009<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 31\" title=\"Xie, Y. et al. Bright short-wavelength infrared organic light-emitting devices. Nat. Photonics 16, 752&#x2013;761 (2022).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR31\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e1187\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">31<\/a>) (Supplementary Table <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1<\/a>). The EL spectra show a higher Nd\/Yb peak intensity ratio of 0.29 than the PL spectra of 0.22 by the direct excitation of Yb@Nd NPs (Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4h<\/a> and Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4<\/a>), indicating that electrical excitation prefers active surface Ln3+ ions and the energy transfer from Nd3+ to Yb3+ is less efficient than that under light excitation.<\/p>\n<p>We fabricate control LEDs using 9-ACA and NdNP@OA as the emissive layers, respectively, using the same solution-processed method (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20<\/a>). No emission is detected from the OA-capped NdLEDs. We measure a peak EQE of 0.4% for the pure 9-ACA (without host matrix)-based OLED emitting in the visible range (Supplementary Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"supplementary material anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#MOESM1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20c<\/a>). This indicates a relatively low electrical-excitation efficiency of the 9-ACA molecule, which could be caused by leakage of charge carriers or interfacial quenching of singlet excitons. These control experiments prove that the molecular antennas are crucial to turn on insulating LnNPs under low voltages.<\/p>\n<p>In summary, this work establishes triplet-mediated electrical excitation as a method to turn on insulating lanthanide nanomaterials, by harvesting the energy from \u2018dark\u2019 molecular triplet excitons at low voltages. Using this, we have given the first proof-of-concept demonstration of LnLEDs. These LnLEDs represent the spectrally narrowest NIR-II EL reported so far, with a tolerance for driving voltages of more than 15\u2009V. Our results reveal some of the key energy loss channels that limit this new class of LnLEDs at present, especially the use of monolayers of the nanohybrids and relatively low replacement ratio of 9-ACA on the surface of LnNPs (0.6%). In the future, tuning the doping ratio and doping types of Ln3+, as well as control of particle size, will boost the NIR-II PLQEs<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 32\" title=\"Arteaga Cardona, F. et al. Preventing cation intermixing enables 50% quantum yield in sub-15 nm short-wave infrared-emitting rare-earth based core-shell nanocrystals. Nat. Commun. 14, 4462 (2023).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR32\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e1221\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">32<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 33\" title=\"Yu, Z. et al. Balancing the thickness of sensitizing and inert layers in neodymium-sensitized tetralayer nanoconstructs for optimal ultraviolet upconversion and near-infrared cross-linked hydrogel tissue sealants. Biomater. Sci. 8, 2878&#x2013;2886 (2020).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR33\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e1224\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">33<\/a>, thus allowing for higher EQEs. For instance, it has been shown that PLQEs &gt;50% can be achieved for Er3+ emission at 1,530\u2009nm in LnNPs<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 32\" title=\"Arteaga Cardona, F. et al. Preventing cation intermixing enables 50% quantum yield in sub-15 nm short-wave infrared-emitting rare-earth based core-shell nanocrystals. Nat. Commun. 14, 4462 (2023).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#ref-CR32\" id=\"ref-link-section-d162478639e1230\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">32<\/a>. Future experimental and theoretical work will thus be required to enhance the brightness and operational stability of LnLEDs (Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-09601-y#Fig8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4<\/a>). The general method we establish here can be applied to numerous organic molecules and various LnNPs, providing a new route to turn on insulating materials under low applied biases. This opens a new field for the design and fabrication of hybrid LEDs and also other electrically pumped devices, such as lasers, with huge potential in biomedical theranostics, optogenetics and optical communication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LnNPs consist of an inorganic insulating host, typically fluorides or oxides such as NaGd\/Y\/LuF4 with a large energy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[29693,38911,3965,20115,94681,3966,85239,51199,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-582269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-electronic-devices","9":"tag-electronics","10":"tag-humanities-and-social-sciences","11":"tag-lasers","12":"tag-leds-and-light-sources","13":"tag-multidisciplinary","14":"tag-optical-spectroscopy","15":"tag-photonics-and-device-physics","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115581432529741392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}