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Fabrication of Polymer Microspheres for Optical Resonator and Laser Applications
Published on: June 2, 2017
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Coordination polymer submicrospheres: fast microwave synthesis and their conversion under different atmospheres
Shengliang Zhong1, Hongyu Jing, Yuan Li
1College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi Normal University , Nanchang 330022, People's Republic of China.
Inorganic Chemistry
|August 2, 2014
Summary
Rare earth coordination polymers (CPs) were synthesized into submicrospheres using microwave heating. Calcination under various atmospheres yielded diverse rare earth oxides, nitrides, and carbon composites for potential applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Inorganic Chemistry
Background:
- Rare earth (RE) coordination polymers (CPs) are versatile materials with tunable properties.
- Developing efficient synthesis methods for RE-CP micro/nanostructures is crucial for exploring their applications.
- Microwave-assisted synthesis offers rapid and controlled routes for nanomaterial fabrication.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a facile and rapid microwave-assisted method for synthesizing rare earth (RE) based coordination polymer (CP) submicrospheres.
- To investigate the transformation of these RE-CP submicrospheres into various rare earth oxide, nitride, and carbon composite materials via post-synthetic calcination.
- To explore the potential applications of the synthesized materials, focusing on their upconversion and electrochemical properties.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of RE-CP submicrospheres using pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylic acid and RE(NO3)3 under microwave irradiation in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF).
- Post-synthetic calcination of RE-CP submicrospheres under different atmospheres (air, N2, NH3) at 550 °C for 4 hours.
- Characterization of the resulting materials and investigation of their upconversion and electrochemical properties.
Main Results:
- Uniform RE-CP submicrospheres (100-400 nm) were synthesized rapidly (5 min) via microwave heating.
- Calcination in air yielded rare earth oxide (RE2O3) submicrospheres.
- Calcination under N2 or NH3 atmospheres resulted in various composite submicrospheres, including RE2O3/C, RE N/RE2O3/C, and RE2O2CN2, depending on the RE element and atmosphere.
- Porous carbon submicrospheres were obtained by removing the RE components from composite spheres.
- The synthesized materials exhibited promising upconversion and electrochemical properties.
Conclusions:
- A facile and rapid microwave-assisted method enables the efficient synthesis of RE-CP submicrospheres.
- Post-synthetic calcination provides a versatile route to diverse RE-based micro/nanomaterials with controlled compositions and structures.
- The synthesized RE-based materials demonstrate potential for applications in areas such as luminescence and electrochemistry.
- This approach offers a promising pathway for the fabrication of novel RE-CP micro-/nanostructures and derived materials.
