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Journal of Electron Microscopy Advance Access originally published online on August 25, 2005
Journal of Electron Microscopy 2005 54(3):309-315; doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfi040
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Nanostructure of Er3+ doped silicates

Nan Yao1,*, Kirk Hou1, Christopher D. Haines2, Nathan Etessami1, Varadh Ranganathan2, Susan B. Halpern2, Bernard H. Kear2, Lisa C. Klein2 and George H. Sigel, Jr2

1 Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA and 2 Department of Ceramic and Materials Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. 120 Bowen Hall, 70 Prospect Avenue, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA. E-mail: nyao{at}princeton.edu

We demonstrate nanostructural evolution resulting in highly increased photoluminescence in silicates doped with Er3+ ions. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) imaging, nano-energy dispersed X-ray (NEDX) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence analysis confirm the local composition and structure changes of the Er3+ ions upon thermal annealing. We studied two types of amorphous nanopowder: the first is of the composition SiO2/18Al2O3/2Er2O3 (SAE), synthesized by combustion flame–chemical vapor condensation, and the second is with a composition of SiO2/8Y2O3/2Er2O3 (SYE), synthesized by sol–gel synthesis (composition in mol%). Electron diffraction and HRTEM imaging clearly show the formation of nanocrystallites with an average diameter of ~8 nm in SAE samples annealed at 1000°C and SYE samples annealed at 1200°C. The volume fraction of the nanocrystalline phase increased with each heat treatment, eventually leading to complete devitrification at 1400°C. Further XRD and NEDX analysis indicates that the nanocrystalline phase has the pyrochlore structure with the formula ErxAl2–xSi2O7 or ErxY2–xSi2O7 and a surrounding silica matrix.

Keywords     HRTEM, silicate, erbium, nanopowder, nanocrystal, waveguide, photoluminescence

Received     25 January 2005, accepted 12 March 2005


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