Controllable Synthesis of NIR-Luminescent ErQ3 Nano-/Microstructures through Self-assembly Growth

Abstract

The NIR-luminescent ErQ3 nano-/microstructures have been successfully synthesized through a simple microemulsion route. Various morphologies, including nanorods, bundles, and urchins, have been achieved by tuning the fundamental experimental parameters, such as the organic solvents and the concentration of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The results from SEM images indicate that a solvent with lower polar and higher boiling-point would result in nanorods, while higher concentrations of CTAB and solvents with higher polar and lower boiling-point would prefer the formation of bundles or urchins. The molecular formula of the products being ErQ3 can be deduced by the elemental analysis and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and can be further confirmed by the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FTIR). A self-assembly growth mechanism has been proposed to explain our system based on the obtained results. Following excitation of the absorption of the ligand, all the ErQ...