Figure 7 HRTEM image and FFT pattern of (Er,Yb):Lu 2 O 3 nanocrystals immersed in PMMA microcolumns. Cathodoluminescence measurements We investigated the cathodoluminescence of (Er,Yb):Lu2O3 nanocrystals in air and embedded in the PMMA microcolumns in the visible range (see Figure 8, which also shows the f-f transitions of Er3+ assignment). The excitation voltage used was 15 kV and the probe current was about 10 nA. Figure 8 Cathodoluminescence spectra of (Er,Yb):Lu 2 O 3 nanocrystals and (Er,Yb):Lu EX-527 2 O 3 nanocrystals embedded into PMMA microcolumns. As in the work of Yang et al. [29], the electron penetration depth,

L p, can be estimated using the expression L p = 250 (MW / ρ)(E/Z 1/2)n, where n = 1.2(1 to 0.29 log10 Z), MW is the molecular weight of the material, ρ is the bulk density, Z is the atomic number, and E is the accelerating voltage (kV). The deeper the electrons penetrate

the phosphor, the greater the increase in the electron-solid interaction volume and consequently in the quantity of Ln3+ excited ions. Using this approach, our penetration depth was estimated to be about 18 μm. This would correspond to the total height of the PMMA microcolumns. Four manifolds were mainly observed, and these correspond to the following electronic transitions: 4G11/2 → 4I15/2 (violet emission centered on 380 nm), 2H9/2 → 4I15/2 (blue emission centered around 410 nm), 4S3/2 → 4I15/2 (green emission centered on 560 nm), and finally 4F9/2 → 4I15/2 (red emission centered

on 680 Selleck JNK-IN-8 nm). Broad band emission acting as a background is observed centered around 400 nm. A similar broad band which has been attributed to radiative recombination at defect centers has been also detected by cathodoluminescence in previous works [30, 31]. It could be observed that the intensity of the peaks decreases when the nanocrystals are embedded in the polymer matrix; therefore, only the last two transitions can be observed in these spectra. This SPTLC1 fact could be attributed to the less quantity of the optical active material and to some scattering in the PMMA columns as a result of their Selleckchem BIX 1294 apparent roughness. As reported in previous works [32, 33], the red emission (Er3+: 4F9/2 → 4I15/2) was observed to predominate over the green emission (Er3+: (2H11/2, 4S3/2) → 4I15/2). This has been related to a 4I11/2 → 4I13/2 large nonradiative relaxation rate with a 4F9/2 → 4I9/2 small nonradiative relaxation rate, and this relation with the large 4I11/2 → 4I13/2 nonradiative relaxation rate is attributed to the occurrence of an efficient cross energy transfer to the OH− surface group as a result of the good energy match. Furthermore, it was proposed that a cross-relaxation process was responsible for populating the 4F9/2 level and that this occurs via two resonant transitions: 4F7/2 → 4F9/2 and 4F9/2 → 4I11/2.