Abstract
Lanthanide-doped nanoparticles are widely investigated for their optical properties. However, the sensitivity of the lanthanide ions’ luminescence to the local symmetry, useful when investigating structural environments, becomes a drawback for optimized properties in the case of poorly controlled crystallinity. In this paper, we focus on -NaYF4 nanorods in order to provide a detailed description of their chemical composition and microstructure. The combination of detailed XRD analysis and TEM observations show that strong variation may be observed from particles from a same batch of synthesis, but also when considering small variations of synthesis conditions. Moreover, also the nanorods observed by SEM exhibit a very nice faceted shape, they are far from being monocrystalline and present significant local deviation of crystalline symmetry and orientation. All these structural considerations, sensitively probed by polarized emission analysis, are crucial to analyze for the development of optimal systems toward the targeted applications.
Highlights
The lanthanide doped NaYF4 nanoparticles (NPs) are a unique class of luminescent nanoparticles that focus increasing attention due to their efficient up-conversion properties and the ability, through colloid chemistry, to nicely play on a variety of shapes [1,2,3], length [4], and doping [5]
The effect on spectral shape is of primary importance when d orbitals are involved (Eu2+, Ce3+ ), but remains significant for transitions implying only f-electron states (Eu3+, Yb3+, Er3+ ). This is well documented in the case of Eu3+ doped compounds, this ion being considered as a very good probe of local environment, providing good indications on site symmetry through the hypersensitive 5 D0 -7 F2 transition [11]
The list of all samples discussed in this work and the experimental conditions for their synthesis is provided on Table 1
Summary
The lanthanide doped NaYF4 nanoparticles (NPs) are a unique class of luminescent nanoparticles that focus increasing attention due to their efficient up-conversion properties and the ability, through colloid chemistry, to nicely play on a variety of shapes [1,2,3], length [4], and doping [5]. The effect on spectral shape is of primary importance when d orbitals are involved (Eu2+ , Ce3+ ), but remains significant for transitions implying only f-electron states (Eu3+ , Yb3+ , Er3+ ) This is well documented in the case of Eu3+ doped compounds, this ion being considered as a very good probe of local environment, providing good indications on site symmetry through the hypersensitive 5 D0 -7 F2 transition [11]. The list of all samples discussed in this work and the experimental conditions for their synthesis is provided on Table 1 These structures differ from their space group and small but significant variations of their cell parameters, and different host site symmetries for the rare-earth ions (see Table 2)
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