Shape controllable synthesis and upconversion properties of NaYbF4/NaYbF4:Er3+ and YbF3/YbF3:Er3+ microstructures

Chunxia Li; Zewei Quan; Piaoping Yang; Jun Yang; Hongzhou Lian; Jun Lin

doi:10.1039/B717363F

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Shape controllable synthesis and upconversion properties of NaYbF₄/NaYbF₄:Er³⁺ and YbF₃/YbF₃:Er³⁺ microstructures†‡

Chunxia Li,^ab Zewei Quan,^ab Piaoping Yang,^a Jun Yang,^ab Hongzhou Lian^a and Jun Lin*^a

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* Corresponding authors

^a State Key Laboratory of Application of Rare Earth Resources, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, P. R. China

^b Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China
E-mail: jlin@ciac.jl.cn

Abstract

Ytterbium fluoride compounds with different crystal phases and morphologies, such as β-NaYbF₄ hexagonal microdisks, microprisms, microtubes, and α-NaYbF₄ submicrospheres as well as YbF₃ octahedra, have been synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were used to characterize the samples. The intrinsic structural feature of ytterbium fluoride compounds and four external factors, namely the pH values in the initial reaction solution, the fluoride source, the use of an organic additive (Cit³⁻) and simple ions (Na⁺, NH₄⁺, BF₄⁻, BO₃⁻), are responsible for the ultimate shape evolutions of the products. The possible formation mechanisms for products with various architectures are presented. Additionally, the upconversion (UC) photoluminescence properties of β-NaYbF₄:Er³⁺ hexagonal microdisks, microtubes, α-NaYbF₄ spheres and YbF₃ octahedra were investigated in detail. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report concerning controllable synthesis of ytterbium fluoride compounds with diverse crystal phases and morphologies. More importantly, this simple method is expected to allow the large-scale production of other complex rare earth fluoride compounds with controllable morphologies and sizes, and exploration of the morphology and phase-dependent photoluminescence properties.

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Supplementary files

XRD patterns of as-prepared β-NaYbF ₄ products using NH ₄F as fluoride source at 180 °C for 24 h at different pH values of (a) 7; (b) 3; (c) 10 and the standard data of β-NaYbF ₄ (Fig. S1), EDX spectrum of sample P1 (Fig. S2), SEM images of β-NaYbF ₄ using NaBF ₄ as fluoride source (pH = 10) (Fig. S3), SEM images of β-NaYbF ₄ in the absence of Cit ^3- (Fig. S4), SEM images of YbF ₃ in the absence of Cit ^3- with other conditions similar to those for preparing P7 (Fig. S5), XRD patterns (Fig. S6) and corresponding SEM images (Fig. S7) of as-prepared NaYbF ₄ samples at 180 °C for different reaction times of (a) 1 h; (b) 6.5 h; (c) 7.5 h, revealing the morphological evolution process of β-NaYbF ₄ microtubes using NaBF ₄ as fluoride source—samples were prepared under similar conditions to those for synthesizing P9; energy-level and upconversion luminescence process for Er ³⁺ doped ytterbium fluoride compounds (Fig. S8) PDF (1560K)

Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/B717363F
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 09 Nov 2007
Accepted: 09 Jan 2008
First published: 11 Feb 2008

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J. Mater. Chem., 2008,18, 1353-1361

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Shape controllable synthesis and upconversion properties of NaYbF₄/NaYbF₄:Er³⁺ and YbF₃/YbF₃:Er³⁺ microstructures

C. Li, Z. Quan, P. Yang, J. Yang, H. Lian and J. Lin, J. Mater. Chem., 2008, 18, 1353 DOI: 10.1039/B717363F

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