Controllable synthesis of glass ceramics containing YF₃:Eu³⁺ nanocrystals: Well‐preserved Eu and prolonged lifetime

Abstract

Monolithic luminescent glass‐ceramic (GC) embedded with fluoride‐based nanocrystals (NCs) has drawn much attention as it is stable and possesses long fluorescent lifetime, while only small partial of optically active ions could enter the fluoride NCs prepared by conventional crystallization process. In this work, YF3:Eu3+ embedded GCs have been controllably synthesized by Spark Plasma Sintering at a relatively low sintering temperature (960°C) within 10 minutes. The GC samples show typical sharp reddish‐orange emissions peaking at λ = 590 nm and 620 nm, which can be ascribed to the 5D0 → 7Fj transitions of Eu3+ located in the tetrahedral coordination sites of the YF3 NCs. Significantly, a small R/O ratio (photoluminescence intensity ratio of 5D0 → 7F2/5D0 → 7F1) suggests that majority of Eu3+ ions are well preserved in YF3 NCs, which is confirmed by the EDS and TEM results that highly crystallized YF3:Eu3+ NCs are homogeneously dispersed into the silica glass matrix without interfacial reaction. Hence, the lifetime of GC sample is prolonged to 6.8 ms These results demonstrate that Eu3+ could be well protected and resided in YF3 low phonon crystal by this method to fabricate GC composites with high optical performance.

Recent Advances in 2D Rare Earth Materials

“…[ 34–40 ] RE elements are a group of 17 metal elements, including of 15 lanthanide elements (La–Lu) and 2 elements Sc and Y. [ 37,41–46 ] Briefly, RE ions have two ground‐state electron configurations including [Xe]4f n and [Xe]4f n −1 5d 1 . [ 41,47–49 ] The 4f electrons in 4f n configuration are localized core‐like and have a strong correlationship with n .…”

“…[34][35][36][37][38][39][40] RE elements are a group of 17 metal elements, including of 15 lanthanide elements (La-Lu) and 2 elements Sc and Y. [37,[41][42][43][44][45][46] Briefly, RE ions have two ground-state electron configurations including [Xe]4f n and [Xe]4f n−1 5d 1 . [41,[47][48][49] The 4f electrons in 4f n configuration are localized core-like and have a strong correlationship with n. [50][51][52][53][54][55] Localized 4f transitions including the f-d interconfigurational and f-f intraconfigurational transitions endow RE with atomic-like optical transitions, which can be observed as sharp and various absorption or luminescence bands.…”

“…[37,[41][42][43][44][45][46] Briefly, RE ions have two ground-state electron configurations including [Xe]4f n and [Xe]4f n−1 5d 1 . [41,[47][48][49] The 4f electrons in 4f n configuration are localized core-like and have a strong correlationship with n. [50][51][52][53][54][55] Localized 4f transitions including the f-d interconfigurational and f-f intraconfigurational transitions endow RE with atomic-like optical transitions, which can be observed as sharp and various absorption or luminescence bands. [54,[56][57][58][59][60][61] In this way, RE has been widely applied in areas such as light emitting diode (LED), lasers, and bioimaging, whether as hosts or dopants.…”

2D Rare Earth Material (EuOCl) with Ultra‐Narrow Photoluminescence at Room Temperature

“…In Eu 3+ , 5 D 0 → 7 F 1 and 5 D 0 → 7 F 2 are assigned to magnetic dipole transition and electric dipole transition, respectively. [46,47] Magnetic dipole transition is independent of the coordination surroundings of the crystallographic site, while electric dipole transition is highly influenced by the environment. [48] In a matrix with perfect inversion symmetry, there will be a total absence of electric dipole transition.…”