Fine-Tuning the Properties of Doped Multifunctional Materials by Controlled Reduction of Dopants

The physical properties of doped multifunctional compounds are commonly tuned by controlling the amount of dopants, but this control is limited because all the properties are influenced simultaneously by this single parameter. Here, we present a strategy that enables the fine-tuning of a specific combination of properties by controlling the reduction of dopants. The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated by optimizing the near-IR photoluminescence of strontium titanate SrTiO₃ :Ni for potential applications in biomedicine for a range of absorbance in the visible/near-IR region. We discussed how material properties, such as luminescence, conductivity, or photocatalytic properties can be designed by carefully controlling the ratio of dopants in different oxidation states.