Uniform Ba0.18Ce0.82F2.82 nanospheres have been obtained after aging a solution of barium and cerium nitrates and sodium tetrafluoroborate in a mixture of ethylene glycol and water at 120 degrees C for 20 hours. The diameter of the spheres could be tailored from 65 nm to 80 nm by varying the NaBF4 concentration while maintaining their…
Luminescent molecules attached to resonant colloidal particles are an important tool to study light-matter interaction. A traditional approach to enhance the photoluminescence intensity of the luminescent molecules in such conjugates is to incorporate spacer-coated plasmonic nanoantennas, where the spacer prevents intense non-radiative decay of the luminescent molecules. Here, we explore the capabilities of an alternative…
A method for the synthesis of uniform and aggregation free NaCeMoO4 based nanospheroids with tunable size is reported. The procedure is based on a precipitation reaction at 120 degrees C for 20 h from solutions containing Na2MoO4, sodium citrate and Ce(NO3)(3) and different amounts of Y(NO3)(3) or Gd(NO3)(3). The role played by the later compounds…
Fluorescent molecular markers were encapsulated. The capsules were additionally modified with plasmonic nanoparticles. The encapsulated markers were endocytosed by cells. Upon light stimulation the plasmonic nanoparticles generated heat, which opened the encapsulation and transiently perforated the endosomal/lysosomal membrane surrounding the capsule, thus allowing for release of the marker into the cytosol. Fluorescence labeling of different…
El proyecto MODO busca optimizar el diseño óptico de dispositivos optoelectrónicos, ya sean fotovoltaicos o emisores de luz, con el objetivo de aumentar su eficiencia o dotarles de nueva funcionalidad. La hipótesis en la que se basa este proyecto es que este objetivo principal puede lograrse mediante la integración de materiales ópticos que permitan controlar…
Eu-doped Sr1–x/2Al2–xSixO4 (x = 0.2, 0.4, and 0.5) transparent ceramics have been synthesized by full and congruent crystallization from glasses prepared by aerodynamic levitation and laser-heating method. Structural refinements from synchrotron and neutron powder diffraction data show that the ceramics adopt a 1 × 1 × 2 superstructure compared to the SrAl2O4 hexagonal polymorph. While the observed superstructure…
A new room-temperature method has been developed that yields, for the first time in the literature, uniform and well-dispersed CaWO4 nanospindles. This method is based on the use of microemulsions consisting of aqueous solutions of Ca2+ and WO42- precursors, cyclohexane as the organic medium, Triton X-100 as the surfactant, and n-octanol as the cosurfactant. We…
Uniform Eu-doped NaGd(WO4)(2) nanophosphors with a spherical shape have been synthesized for the first time by using a wet chemistry method based on a homogeneous precipitation process at low temperature (120 degrees C) in ethylene glycol/water mixtures. The obtained nanoparticles crystallized into the tetragonal structure and presented polycrystalline character. The europium content in such phosphors…
Rare earth based nanostructures constitute a type of functional materials widely used and studied in the recent literature. The purpose of this review is to provide a general and comprehensive overview of the current state of the art, with special focus on the commonly employed synthesis methods and functionalization strategies of rare earth based nanoparticles…
