Preparation and optical properties of YH2:Er2+ and Y2O3:Er3+ nanoparticles

The rare earth hydride nanoparticles have been prepared successfully by a novel method of hydrogen plasma-metal reaction. The YH2:Er2+ nanoparticles of 40-50 nm were polycrystalline and in hexagonal shape. The Y2O3:Er3+ nanoparticles were fabricated by annealing the hydride nanoparticles in air at 300, 500 and 700 degrees C, respectively. The influence of the sintering temperature on the size, crystal structure and optical properties of these nanoparticle samples were investigated. After annealing, the Y2O3:Er3+ nanoparticles became single crystalline and spherical shape, and the mean particle size of these particles did not change apparently upon the annealing temperature up to 700 degrees C. With the increase of the annealing temperature, the absorption intensity of YH2 in the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra decreased and the peak position moved to high-frequency, whereas the absorption intensity of Y2O3 was enhanced. The intensity of the near-IR fluorescence spectra of the Y2O3:Er3+ nanoparticles increased remarkably with the increase of the annealing temperature from 300 to 700 degrees C. The Y2O3:Er3+ sample sintered at 700 degrees C exhibited a strong photoluminescent intensity at the wavelength of about 1535 nm, with a narrow full width of 6 nm at the half maximum. This makes the Y2O3:Er3+ nanoparticles promising for the applications in the optical communication devices.