Facile preparation method for rare earth phosphate hollow spheres and their photoluminescence properties

Hollow Structured Transition Metal Phosphates and Their Applications

Hollow nanostructures of transition metal phosphate are of immense interest in the existing and evolving areas of technology, due to their high surface area, presence of hollow void, and easy tuning of compositions and dimensions. Emerging synthesis methods such as template-free methods, hard-templating, and soft-templating are discussed in this review. Applications of these hollow metal phosphates dominate in energy storage and conversions, with specific advantages as supercapacitor materials. Other applications, including drug delivery, water splitting, catalysis, and adsorption, are reviewed. Finally, additional perspectives on the progress of these nanostructures, and their existing challenges related to the current synthesis routes are covered. Therefore, with the strategic modifications of the unique properties of these hollow metal phosphates, broader application requirements are fulfilled.

Lanthanide-Doped Photoluminescence Hollow Structures: Recent Advances and Applications

Lanthanide-doped nanomaterials have attracted significant attention for their preeminent properties and widespread applications. Due to the unique characteristic, the lanthanide-doped photoluminescence materials with hollow structures may provide advantages including enhanced light harvesting, intensified electric field density, improved luminescent property, and larger drug loading capacity. Herein, the synthesis, properties, and applications of lanthanide-doped photoluminescence hollow structures (LPHSs) are comprehensively reviewed. First, different strategies for the engineered synthesis of LPHSs are described in detail, which contain hard, soft, self-templating methods and other techniques. Thereafter, the relationship between their structure features and photoluminescence properties is discussed. Then, niche applications including biomedicines, bioimaging, therapy, and energy storage/conversion are focused on and superiorities of LPHSs for these applications are particularly highlighted. Finally, keen insights into the challenges and personal prospects for the future development of the LPHSs are provided.

Facile preparation and bifunctional imaging of Eu-doped GdPO4 nanorods with MRI and cellular luminescence

Eu-doped GdPO₄ NRs coated by silk fibroin have been prepared in a template of silk fibroin (SF) peptides via a mineralization process. A growth mechanism of SF-NRs is proposed to explain their stronger luminescence, better cyto-compatibility and higher longitudinal relaxivity r₁.

One-pot template-free synthesis of NaYF4 upconversion hollow nanospheres for bioimaging and drug delivery

Hollow-structured nanomaterials with fluorescent properties are extremely attractive for image-guided cancer therapy. In this paper, sub-100 nm and hydrophilic NaYF4 upconversion (UC) hollow nanospheres (HNSs) with multicolor UC luminescence and drug-delivery properties were successfully prepared by a facile one-pot template-free hydrothermal route using polyetherimide (PEI) polymer as the stabilizing agent. XRD, SEM, TEM, and N2-adsorption/desorption were used to characterize the as-obtained products. The growth mechanism of the HNSs has been systematically investigated on the basis of the Ostwald ripening. Under 980 nm excitation, UC emissions of HNSs can be tuned by a simple change of the concentration or combination of various upconverters. As a result, the PEI-coated HNSs could be used as efficient probes for in vitro upconversion luminescence (UCL) cell imaging. Furthermore, a doxorubicin storage/release behavior and cancer-cell-killing ability investigation reveal that the product has the potential to be a drug carrier for cancer therapy.

Cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet hollow shell phosphors synthesized via the Kirkendall effect

We report, for the first time, the synthesis of the Y3Al5O12:Ce(3+) hollow phosphor particles with a uniform size distribution via the Kirkendall effect, characterized by using a combination of in situ X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses as a function of calcination temperature. The formation of hollow Y3Al5O12:Ce(3+) particles was revealed to originate from the different diffusivities of atoms (Al and Y) in a diffusion couple, causing a supersaturation of lattice vacancies. The optical characterization using photoluminescence spectroscopy and scanning confocal microscopy clearly showed the evidence of YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) hollow shells with emission at 545 nm. Another advantage of this methodology is that the size of hollow shells can be tunable by changing the size of initial nanotemplates that are spherical aluminum hydroxide nanoparticles. In this study, we synthesized the hollow shell particles with average diameters of 140 and 600 nm as representatives to show the range of particle sizes. Because of the unique structural and optical properties, the Y3Al5O12:Ce(3+) hollow shells can be another alternative to luminescence materials such as quantum dots and organic dyes, which promote their utilization in various fields, including optoelectronic and nanobio devices.

Capillary-force-induced formation of luminescent polystyrene/(rare-earth-doped nanoparticle) hybrid hollow spheres

This paper presents a "one-pot" procedure to synthesize polystyrene/(rare-earth-doped nanoparticles) (PS/REDNPs) hybrid hollow spheres via the in situ diffusion of organic core into inorganic shell under strong capillary force. In this approach, when carboxyl-capped PS colloids were deposited by different REDNPs in aqueous medium, such as LaF3:Eu3+, LaF3:Ce3+-Tb3+, and YVO4:Dy3+, PS/REDNPs inorganic-organic hybrid hollow spheres could be directly obtained via the in situ diffusion of core PS chains into the voids between rare-earth-doped nanoparticles through the strong capillary force. Not only is the synthetic procedure versatile and very simple, but also the obtained hybrid hollow spheres are hydrophilic and luminescent and could be directly used in chemical and biological fields.