Synthesis and characterization of Eu³⁺, Ti⁴⁺@ ZnO organosols and nanocrystalline c-ZnTiO₃thin films aiming at high transparency and luminescence

Abstract

By exploiting colloidal properties, such as transparency, rheology and versatile chemistry, we propose to synthesize new photonic nanomaterials based on colloidal solutions and thin films. This contribution highlights our efforts to elaborate and to characterize nanostructures based on the ZnO-TiO 2 system. Using a recently developed sol-gel route to synthesize new Ti 4+ @ZnO organosols, we were able to prepare, at relatively low temperature (400 • C) and short annealing time (15 min), highly transparent, luminescent, nanocrystalline Eu 3+ doped c-ZnTiO 3 thin films. The organosols and thin films were characterized with UV-visible-near infrared absorption, ellipsometry, photoluminescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.

Structural and luminescence properties of silica powders and transparent glass‐ceramics containing LaF3:Eu3+ nanocrystals

“…In general, the numerous optical materials are utilizing the luminescence from trivalent rare‐earth elements (RE 3+ ) . Hence, much research attention has been paid to the synthesis of RE 3+ ‐doped AF 3 nanocrystalline fluoride systems: LaF 3 , GdF 3 , and YF 3 .…”

“…Moreover, rare‐earth ions are well‐known as nucleation centers for the formation of fluoride nanocrystals in oxyfluoride hosts. This effect leads to successful incorporation of RE 3+ ions inside low‐phonon fluoride nanocrystals . Therefore, from the optical point of view, rare‐earth doped nanocrystalline materials have been recognized to hold tremendous promises as luminescent materials in a variety of applications, such as: novel light sources, plasma display panels (PDPs), luminescent traces in forensic and bio‐imaging …”

Hierarchical structures of ZnO spherical particles synthesized solvothermally

“…The control of the morphology of ZnO nanostructures is a popular topic in modern materials science [19][20][21][22][23][24]. A wide variety of ZnO morphologies (e.g.…”

Visible tunable lighting system based on polymer composites embedding ZnO and metallic clusters: from colloids to thin films

“…With the incorporation of ZnO or CMIF, the PVP bands drastically decrease, while a strong band centered at 550 nm or 650 nm appears for 200/0 or 0/400 solutions, respectively. The 550 nm emission band is attributed to the photoluminescence generated by defects in ZnO nanocrystals,[32–37] while the 650 nm emission band is attributed to the [Mo 6 I i 8 (OOCC 2 F 5 ) a 6 ] 2- cluster units. [20] When the CMIF amount increases in the ZnO-containing solutions, no additional bands are observed, while the emission from ZnO nanocrystals decreases.…”