Transmission electron microscope images were taken using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) Philips CM-20 SuperTwin with 160 kV of accelerating voltage and 0.25 nm of optical resolution.
The hydrodynamic size of the nanoparticles was determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS), conducted in Malvern ZetaSizer at room temperature in polystyrene cuvette, using distilled water as a dispersant.
The emission spectra were measured using the 266 nm excitation line from a laser diode (LD) and a Silver-Nova Super Range TEC Spectrometer form Stellarnet (1 nm spectral resolution) as a detector. The temperature of the sample was controlled using a THMS600 heating stage from Linkam (0.1 1C temperature stability and 0.1 1C set point resolution).
Luminescence decay profiles were recorded using FLS980 Fluorescence Spectrometer from Edinburgh Instruments with μFlash lamp as an excitation source and R928P side window photomultiplier tube from Hamamatsu as a detector.