title: Fabrication of nanoparticulate porous LaOF films through film growth and thermal decomposition of ion-modified lanthanum diacetate hydroxide.
abstract: This paper first reports fabrication of macro/nanotextured rare-earth oxyfluoride films. Usage of ion-modified lanthanum diacetate hydroxide (LDAH) as self-templates was successful in producing nanoparticulate lanthanum oxyfluoride (LaOF) films. LDAH template films were deposited on glass substrates through a chemical bath deposition in solutions composed of lanthanum acetate sesquihydrate, methanol, trifluoroacetic acid, and aqueous ammonia. The LDAH films had a unique, nestlike morphology owing to a two-dimensional hexagonal crystal growth. Modification of LDAH with trifluoroacetate ions led to formation of LaOF after pyrolyzing the template films at temperatures of 400-600 degrees C in air. The resultant LaOF films had a nanoparticulate porous microstructure, maintaining the morphology of the original LDAH template films. It was also successful to incorporate Eu3+ ions into LaOF through deposition of the LDAH film in a solution containing europium acetate tetrahydrate. The characteristic photoluminescence from Eu(3+) was observed with an ultraviolet-light excitation at 273 nm, indicating that Eu3+ was homogeneously distributed in LaOF host crystals. Thus the ion-modification of LDAH was also demonstrated to be a useful method for preparing nanostructured rare-earth oxyfluoride materials havingvarious cationic compositions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama 223-8522, Japan.
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hosono
authors.forename: Shinobu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujihara
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimura