title: Synthesis of erbium oxide nanosheets and up-conversion properties.
abstract: A novel erbium-based compound as well as Er(2)O(3) nanosheets have been synthesized through a simple hydrothermal route. The nanosheets are of 200 nm width and 10-15 nm thickness. It is suggested that this erbium-based compound has a possible formula of Er(2)O(5)H(4) with a primitive tetragonal structure (cell parameters: a = 8.465(1) and c = 15.117(2) Å). Face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic structured Er(2)O(3) nanosheets were obtained after calcination of this compound at 623 and 973 K, respectively, both having a paramagnetic behavior. Er(2)O(5)H(4) and Er(2)O(3) nanosheets have similar up-conversion properties with strong blue emission, which is rarely reported in the literature. The existence of absorbed surface contaminations in nanosheets might be the origin for the blue emission enhancement.
authors.affiliation: International Center for New-Structured Materials (ICNSM), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: X B
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Cen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: X R
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Kenny
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ståhl
authors.forename: J Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Jiang