Synthesis and Characterization of Nanoparticles with Luminescence Properties

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanocomposite Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 9149

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. QUIPRE Department, University of Cantabria, Avda. de Los Castros 46, 39005 Santander, Spain
2. Nanomedicine Group, IDIVAL, Avda. Cardenal Herrera Oria s/n, 39011 Santander, Spain
Interests: nanomaterials; material characterization; nanoparticles synthesis; materials; spectroscopy; optics; thin films and nanotechnology; optoelectronics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Luminescent nanoparticles have attracted significant attention for advanced applications in different fields such as biomedicine, energy, or sensors. The nanomaterials of interest range from insulating host particles doped with rare earth and transition metal ions to semiconductor nanoparticles or quantum dots. The luminescent properties of quantum dots are known to be very sensitive to the particle size and system dimensionality. The emission intensity and lifetime of rare earth-doped nanoparticles may change when the particle size decreases due to the increase in area of the specific surface. In addition, the luminescence intensity can be improved by changing the dopant concentrations and reducing the presence of defects. Both the synthesis procedure and the nature of the host lattice have an influence on the presence of defects and, thus, on the luminescence efficiency. In addition to this, nanoparticles can be easily functionalized for diverse applications. This Special Issue of Nanomaterials, “Synthesis and Characterization of Nanoparticles with Luminescence Properties”, aims to collect articles covering a broad range of subjects from nanomaterials synthesis to characterization techniques and optical functionality. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  1. Nanoparticle synthesis methods
  2. Physical processes in nanomaterials, porous materials, and interfaces
  3. Characterization techniques (e.g., X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy)
  4. Absorption, emission, excitation, and time-resolved spectroscopy
  5. Excited state dynamics and upconversion nanoparticles
  6. Applications (e.g., phosphors, energy conversion, bioimaging)

Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Rosa Martín-Rodríguez
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • nanomaterials and nanoparticles
  • quantum dots
  • lanthanides
  • synthesis procedures
  • characterization techniques
  • spectroscopy
  • biomedicine

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2376 KiB  
Article
Cation Crosslinking-Induced Stable Copper Nanoclusters Powder as Latent Fingerprints Marker
by Yi Qiu, Zhuoqi Wen, Shiliang Mei, Jinxin Wei, Yuanyuan Chen, Zhe Hu, Zhongjie Cui, Wanlu Zhang, Fengxian Xie and Ruiqian Guo
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(12), 3371; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123371 - 12 Dec 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2957
Abstract
Luminescent copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) have shown great potential in light-emitting devices (LEDs), chemical sensing, catalysis and biological fields. However, their practical use has been restricted by poor stability, and study on the stability of Cu NCs solid powder along with the mechanism [...] Read more.
Luminescent copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) have shown great potential in light-emitting devices (LEDs), chemical sensing, catalysis and biological fields. However, their practical use has been restricted by poor stability, and study on the stability of Cu NCs solid powder along with the mechanism is absent. In this study, stablized Cu NCs powder was first obtained by cation crosslinking method. Compared with the powder synthesized by solvent precipitation method, the stability of Cu NCs powder crosslinked by ionic inducer Ce3+ was enhanced around 100-fold. The storage time when the fluorescence intensity decreased to 85% (T85) was improved from 2 h to 216 h, which is the longest so far. The results of characterizations indicated that the aggregation structure was formed by the binding of Ce3+ with the capping ligands of Cu NCs, which helped in obtaining Ce-Cu NCs powder from aggregate precipitation in solution. Furthermore, this compact structure could avoid the destruction of ambient moisture resulting in long-lasting fluorescence and almost unchanged physical form. This demonstrated that phosphor, with excellent characteristics of unsophisticated synthesis, easy preservation and stable fluorescence, showed great potential in light sources, display technology and especially in latent fingerprints visualization on different substrates for forensic science. Full article
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13 pages, 1618 KiB  
Article
Adsorptive Capture of Ionic and Non-Ionic Pollutants Using a Versatile Hybrid Amphiphilic-Nanomica
by Fernando Aguado, Rosa Martín-Rodríguez, Carmen Pesquera, Rafael Valiente and Ana C. Perdigón
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(12), 3167; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123167 - 23 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1647
Abstract
A versatile, functional nanomaterial for the removal of ionic and non-ionic pollutants is presented in this work. For that purpose, the high charge mica Na-4-Mica was exchanged with the cationic surfactant (C16H33NH(CH3)2)+. The [...] Read more.
A versatile, functional nanomaterial for the removal of ionic and non-ionic pollutants is presented in this work. For that purpose, the high charge mica Na-4-Mica was exchanged with the cationic surfactant (C16H33NH(CH3)2)+. The intercalation of the tertiary amine in the swellable nano-clay provides the optimal hydrophilic/hydrophobic nature in the bidimensional galleries of the nanomaterial responsible for the dual functionality. The organo-mica, made by functionalization with C16H33NH3+, was also synthesized for comparison purposes. Both samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction techniques and transmission electron microscopy. Then, the samples were exposed to a saturated atmosphere of cyclohexylamine for two days, and the adsorption capacity was evaluated by thermogravimetric measurements. Eu3+ cations served as a proof of concept for the adsorption of ionic pollutants in an aqueous solution. Optical measurements were used to identify the adsorption mechanism of Eu3+ cations, since Eu3+ emissions, including the relative intensity of different f–f transitions and the luminescence lifetime, can be used as an ideal spectroscopic probe to characterize the local environment. Finally, the stability of the amphiphilic hybrid nanomaterial after the adsorption was also tested. Full article
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20 pages, 5203 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Study on Luminescence Properties of Y2O3: Pr3+ Nanocrystals Prepared by Different Synthesis Methods
by Andrea Diego-Rucabado, Marina T. Candela, Fernando Aguado, Jesús González, Fernando Rodríguez, Rafael Valiente, Rosa Martín-Rodríguez and Israel Cano
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(8), 1574; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10081574 - 11 Aug 2020
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3207
Abstract
Pr3+-doped Y2O3 nanocrystals (NCs) have been obtained via five wet-chemistry synthesis methods which were optimized in order to achieve superior optical properties. To this end, a systematic study on the influence of different reaction parameters was performed for [...] Read more.
Pr3+-doped Y2O3 nanocrystals (NCs) have been obtained via five wet-chemistry synthesis methods which were optimized in order to achieve superior optical properties. To this end, a systematic study on the influence of different reaction parameters was performed for each procedure. Specifically, precursor concentration, reaction temperature, calcination temperature, and time, among others, were analyzed. The synthesized Y2O3: Pr3+ NCs were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and reflectance and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, the optical properties of such NCs were investigated by excitation, emission, and luminescence decay measurements. Concretely, emission from the 1D2 level was detected in all samples, while emission from 3PJ was absent. Finally, the effect of the synthesis methods and the reaction conditions on the luminescence decay has been discussed, and a comparative study of the different methods using the fluorescence lifetime of so-obtained Y2O3: Pr3+ NCs as a figure of merit has been carried out. Full article
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