Photoluminescence Properties of LaF₃:Ce Nanoparticles Embedded in Polyacrylamide

Thiruvalankadu Krishnamoorthy Srinivasan, Balasubramaniam Venkatraman, Durairaj Ponraju, Akhilesh Kumar Arora

Condensed Matter Physics Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, India.
Physical Chemistry Section, Reactor Engineering Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, India.
Radiological Safety and Environment Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, India.

DOI: 10.4236/wjnse.2012.24027                

Abstract

Oleic acid coated LaF₃:Ce nanoparticles were synthesized and embedded in polyacrylamide through a two-step procedure. In the first step nanoparticles were synthesized by adopting co-precipitation technique and in the second step, nanoparticles were embedded in polyacrylamide (PAM) hydro-gel through the solution route. Nanoparticels were characterized for their crystal structure, particle size, organic coating and photoluminescence behavior using X-ray diffracttion, SEM, TEM, FTIR and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Size of nanoparticles was estimated using the Scherer formula. Polymer nano composite (PNC) material was synthesized with two different weight percent of the nano powder viz 1.634% (termed as NG1) and 0.1664% (termed as NG2). The nanoparticle-polymer composite exhibits emissions at 308 and 370 nm. A comparison of the emission spectrum of LaF₃:Ce nano-powder pellet with that of the composite suggests a suppression of emission from the PAM host in the composite.

Keywords

Lanthanum Fluoride Cerium; Polyacrylamide; Oleic Acid; Photoluminescence; Nanocomposite

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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