title: Rare Earth Doped Silica Nanoparticles via Thermolysis of a Single Source Metallasilsesquioxane Precursor.
abstract: Rare earth metal doped silica nanoparticles have significant advantages over traditional organic dyes and quantum dots. Silsesquioxanes are promising precursors in the production of silica nanoparticles by thermolysis, due to their structural similarities with silica materials. This manuscript describes the production of a new Eu3+-based metallasilsesquioxane species and its use as a single source precursor in the thermolytic production of luminescent rare earth metal doped silica nanoparticles with characteristic emission in the visible region of the spectrum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Gemma-Louise
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and CRANN Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and CRANN Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, 197101, St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Yurii K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Gun'ko