Fluorescence Behaviour and Singlet Oxygen Production of Aluminium Phthalocyanine in the Presence of Upconversion Nanoparticles

NaYF4:Yb/Er/Gd upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) were synthesised and the photoemission stabilised by embedding them in electrospun fibers. The photophysical behaviour of chloro aluminium tetrasulfo phthalocyanine (ClAlTSPc) was studied in the presence of UCNPs when the two are mixed in solution. The fluorescence quantum yield value of ClAlTSPc decreased in the presence of UCNPs due to the heavy atom effect of UCNPs. This effect also resulted in increase in triplet quantum yields for ClAlTSPc in the presence of UCNPs. The fluorescence lifetimes for UCNPs were shortened at 658 nm in the presence of ClAlTSPc when the former was embedded in fiber and suspended in a dimethyl sulfoxide solution of the latter. A clear singlet oxygen generation by ClAlTSPc though Forster resonance energy transfer was demonstrated using a singlet oxygen quencher, 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran.