Affiliation:
1. Radiation Dosimetry Center, Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares, Avenida Lineu Prestes 2242, Cidade
Universitária, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Abstract
Background:
The strategy to form functional structures based on powder technology relies
on the concept of nanoparticles characteristics. Rare-earth sesquioxides (RE2O3; RE as Y, Tm, Eu)
exhibit remarkable properties, and their fields of application include energy, astronomy, environmental,
medical, information technology, industry, and materials science. The purpose of this paper is to
evaluate the characteristics of RE2O3 nanoparticles as a bottom-up strategy to form functional materials
for radiation dosimetry.
Methods:
The RE2O3 nanoparticles were characterized by the following techniques: XRD, SEM, PCS,
FTIR, ICP, EPR, and zeta potential.
Results:
All RE2O3 samples exhibited cubic C-type structure in accordance with the sesquioxide diagram,
chemical composition over 99.9 %, monomodal mean particle size distribution, in which d50
value was inferior to 130 nm. Among all samples, only yttrium oxide exhibited an EPR signal, in
which the most intense peak was recorded at 358mT and g 1.9701.
Conclusion:
Evaluating nanoparticle characteristics is extremely important by considering a bottom-up
strategy to form functional materials. The RE2O3 nanoparticles exhibit promising characteristics for
application in radiation dosimetry.
Funder
São Paulo Research Foundation
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development
Publisher
Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.