Preparation and optical properties of rare earth fluoride and its related composite materials

Abstract

Rare earth fluoride and its composite materials have shown broad application prospects in fields such as optoelectronics and photocatalysis. In this study, we prepared rare earth fluoride (β-NaYF4 nanocrystals) and its related composite materials (β-NaYF4/ZnO composite and GQDs@NaYF4 nanomaterials) using a solvothermal method and investigated their optical performance. The characterization and performance of the prepared materials were analyzed using a transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, upconversion emission spectra, and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. The results show that the crystal thickness of β-NaYF4 nanocrystals is approximately 45.0 nm when the F−: Ln3+ value is 6. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that diffraction peak positions in β-NaYF4 nanocrystals correspond to the peak positions of standard card at different doping concentrations of Zn2+ Moreover, it was observed that the highest fluorescence lifetime of Tm3+ ion in 1G4 is 778 μs when the doping concentration of Zn2+ is 1 mol%. When the concentration of exonuclease III increases to 22.5U, the upconversion fluorescence emission intensity of GQDs@NaYF4 nanomaterial is about 34 ∗ 106 a.u. When the activation reaction time is 90 minutes, the upconversion emission intensity of GQDs@NaYF4 nanomaterial is about 37 ∗ 106 a.u. In conclusion, we successfully prepared rare earth fluoride and its composite materials with excellent optical properties through the solvothermal method.