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Eingeladener Vortrag
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Recently, detection and conversion of high energy radiation such as ultraviolet and X-rays has gained renewed attention. In part, technological applications in radioimaging and tomography have developed considerably as to allow lower dosages and higher resolutions, which require optimized scintillators and dosimeters. On the other hand, the increasing effort to reduce carbon footprint in energy production has triggered an intensive search for materials that can be excited with sunlight, ranging from photocatalysts to solar concentrators. At LEMAF – Laboratory of Spectroscopy of Functional Materials at IFSC/USP, we have been developing bulk glasses, polycrystalline and composite materials designed to target both challenges and, in this work an overview of recent progresses and of the state of art of these materials will be given.
For instance, the few available comercial scintillators are crystalline materials with costly and time consuming growth which hinders the development of new compositions. Glasses and glass ceramics, such as the NaPGaW composition developed in our lab, present high density, very good optical properties and high chemical stability which allow them radioluminescent response when doped with low concentrations of Ce3+, Eu3+ and Tb3+ offering a promise as alternatives to crystal scintillators. On the other hand, phosphor in glass (PiG) composites based on the persistent luminescent polycrystalline material Sr2MgSi2O7:Eu2+,Dy3+ (SMSO) embedded into NaPGa glasses offer interesting perspectives for the of UV light into visible, useful for white light generation (lighting), improved harvesting and conversion of solar light when coupled to c-Si PV cells and photocatalysis. These and other examples will be discussed.
The glasses are prepared through the conventional melt quenching technique, followed by controlled heating when glass ceramics are desired. The persistent luminescent phosphor is prepared by the microwave assisted technique (MAS) much faster and with considerable energy consumption reduction than in the usual solid state synthesis. The materials are characterized from the structural, morphological and spectroscopic (optical – UV-Vis, PL, PLE, and structural – NMR, EPR) points of view such that structure-property correlations are constantly sought to feedback synthesis and processing. Fig. 1, illustrates two examples of scintillator glasses doped with Tb3+ and PiG composites doped with Eu2+ and Dy3+.
Optical glasses and glass ceramics are present in many devices often used in our daily routine, such as the mobile phones and tablets. Since the 1960´s with the development of glass lasers, and more recently, within the search for efficient W-LEDs, sensors and solar converters, this class of materials has experienced extreme research progress. In order to tailor a material for such applications, it is very important to understand and characterize optical properties such as refractive index, transmission window, absorption and emission cross sections, quantum yields, etc. These properties can often be tuned by appropriate compositional choice and post-synthesis processing. In this lecture we will discuss the optical properties of glasses and glass ceramics, relevant to that end.
Structure-property correlations in RE-doped fluoride-phosphate glasses sought by NMR, EPR & PL
(2024)
As the development of optimized glass compositions by traditional trial-and-error methods is laborious, expensive, and time consuming, it is desirable to gather fundamental understanding of structure and to develop structure-property relation models, which allow best and faster choices. Particularly, when it comes to optical applications of glasses doped with emissive trivalent rare earth ions (RE), the chemical environmental around the ions will have a direct influence on the radiative/non-radiative emission probabilities. The vibrational environment and the chemical nature of the bonds in the first coordination sphere of the ions can be tailored, to some extent, based on structural information given by magnetic resonance (NMR and EPR) techniques associated to Raman and photophysical characterization. For the past 5 years, one of the interests of my research group at the University of São Paulo, in Brazil, has been the development of high-density fluoride-phosphate glasses as promising UV and X-ray scintillator materials. The targeted glasses offer a lower vibrational energy, less hygroscopic fluoride environment for the RE ions whereas the phosphate network provides improved mechanical and chemical stability than a purely fluoride glass matrix. Different sets of glasses, based on the compositional system (Ba/Sr)F2-M(PO3)3-MF3-(Sc/Y)F3 where M = Al, In, Ga, and the phosphate component is substituted by the fluoride analogue in 10-30 mol%, were investigated, using Sc3+, Y3+, and the Eu3+ and Yb3+ dopants, as structural probes. Overall, results show that the desired RE coordination by F, at a given F/P ratio, is proportional to the atomic mass of M (In> Ga> Al) and that the Ga- and In- based systems differ from the Al- one by near absence of P-O-P network linkages i.e, the network structures are dominated by Ga-O-P or In-O-P linkages as evidenced by 31P MAS-NMR and Raman. These results are nicely corroborated by observation of decreased intensity in the vibronic band of Eu3+ and significant increase in the excited state lifetime values. Radioluminescence studies were carried out for a series of In-based glasses doped with Ce3+ and Tb3+ yielding intense emissions in the blue and green, respectively, compatible to the spectral region of highest sensitivity of radiation sensor detectors. The aim of the presentation is to show how powerful the combination of NMR, EPR, Raman and PLE spectroscopies can be to provide structural information and to present the perspectives for their introduction in the research agenda of Division 5.6 – Glass, which I now lead, at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin, Germany.
Spectroscopy Lectures
(2024)
As a guest professor of FUNGLASS, I delivered 3 lectures on spectroscopy to the Graduate School Program, the postdoctoral fellows and other researchers: 1) Introduction to spectroscopy applied to solid state materials (with focus on glass and glass ceramics); 2) Vibrational spectroscopy (Infrared and Raman); 3) Electron Paramagnetic Resonance
Quantum dots (QDs) are remarkable semiconductor nanoparticles, whose optical properties are strongly size-dependent. Therefore, the real-time monitoring of crystal growth pathway during synthesis gives an excellent opportunity to a smart design of the QDs luminescence. In this work, we present a new approach for monitoring the formation of QDs in aqueous solution up to 90 °C, through in situ luminescence analysis, using CdTe as a model system. This technique allows a detailed examination of the evolution of their light emission. In contrast to in situ absorbance analysis, the in situ luminescence measurements in reflection geometry are particularly advantageous once they are not hindered by the concentration increase of the colloidal suspension. The synthesized particles were additionally characterized using X-ray diffraction analysis, transition electron microscopy, UV-Vis absorption and infrared spectroscopy. The infrared spectra showed that 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA)-based thiols are covalently bound on the surface of QDs and microscopy revealed the formation of CdS. Setting a total of 3 h of reaction time, for instance, the QDs synthesized at 70, 80 and 90 °C exhibit emission maxima centered at 550, 600 and 655 nm. The in situ monitoring approach opens doors for a more precise achievement of the desired emission wavelength of QDs.
As the development of optimized glass compositions by traditional trial-and-error methods is laborious, time consuming, and expensive, it is desirable to develop glass compositions based on a fundamental understanding of the glass structure and to establish structure-property relation models. Particularly, when it comes to optical applications of glasses doped with emissive trivalent rare earth ions (RE), the chemical environmental around the ions will have a direct influence on the radiative/non-radiative emission probabilities. The local vibrational environment and the chemical nature of the bonds in the first coordination sphere of the ions can be tailored, to good extent, based on structural information given by magnetic resonance techniques (NMR and EPR), associated to Raman and photophysical characterization. For the past 5 years, while still employed at the University of São Paulo, in Brazil, one of the interests of my research group has been the development of high-density fluoride-phosphate glasses as promising UV and X-ray scintillator materials. The targeted glasses offer a lower vibrational energy, less hygroscopic fluoride environment for the RE ions whereas the phosphate network provides better mechanical and chemical stability than a purely fluoride glass matrix. Different sets of glasses, based on the compositional system (Ba/Sr)F2-M(PO3)3-MF3-(Sc/Y)F3 where M = Al, In, Ga, and the phosphate component is substituted by the fluoride analogue in 10 - 30 mol%, were investigated, using Sc3+, Y3+, and the Eu3+ and Yb3+ dopants, as structural probes. Overall, results show that the desired RE coordination by fluorine, at a given F/P ratio, is proportional to the atomic mass of M (In> Ga> Al) and that the Ga- and In- based systems differ from the Al- one by near absence of P-O-P network linkages. That is, the network structures are dominated by Ga-O-P or In-O-P linkages, as evidenced by 31P MAS-NMR and Raman. These results are nicely corroborated by observation of decreased intensity of the vibronic band in Eu3+-doped glasses and marked increase in excited state lifetime values. Radioluminescence studies were carried out for a series of In-based glasses doped with Ce3+ and Tb3+, yielding intense emissions in the blue and green, respectively, compatible to the spectral region of the highest sensitivity of radiation sensor detectors. The aim of the presentation is to show how powerful the NMR and EPR techniques can be to provide decisive structural information, and to present the research perspectives in my new role as the Head of Division 5.6 – Glass at BAM.