Transparent Sol-Gel Oxyfluoride Glass-Ceramics with High Crystalline Fraction and Study of RE Incorporation

Transparent oxyfluoride glass-ceramic films and self-supported layers with composition 80SiO₂-20LaF₃ doped with Er3+ have been successfully synthesized by sol-gel process for the first time. Crack-free films and self-supported layer with a maximum thickness up to 1.4 m were obtained after heat treat...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gorni, Giulio, Velázquez, José J., Mosa, Jadra, Mather, Glenn C., Serrano, Aida, Vila, María, Castro, Germán R., Bravo, David, Balda de la Cruz, Rolindes, Fernández Rodríguez, Joaquín Manuel, Durán, Alicia, Castro, Yolanda
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/32683
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/32683
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:crystallization
glass-ceramic
oxyfluoride
rare-earth
sol-gel
Descripción
Sumario:Transparent oxyfluoride glass-ceramic films and self-supported layers with composition 80SiO₂-20LaF₃ doped with Er3+ have been successfully synthesized by sol-gel process for the first time. Crack-free films and self-supported layer with a maximum thickness up to 1.4 m were obtained after heat treatment at the low temperature of 550 °C for 1 min, resulting in a LaF₃ crystal fraction of 18 wt%, as confirmed by quantitative Rietveld refinement. This is the highest value reported up to now for transparent oxyfluoride glass-ceramics prepared by sol-gel. This work provides a new synthesis strategy and opens the way to a wide range of potential applications of oxyfluoride glass-ceramics. The characterization by a wide range of techniques revealed the homogeneous precipitation of LaF₃ nanocrystals into the glass matrix. X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance confirmed that the Er3+ ions are preferentially embedded in the low phonon-energy LaF₃ nanocrystals. Moreover, photoluminescence (PL) measurements confirmed the incorporation of dopants in the LaF₃ nanocrystals. The effective concentration of rare-earth ions in the LaF₃ nanocrystals is also estimated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy.