Synthesis of REF3 (RE = Nd, Tb) nanoparticles via a solvent extraction route

NdF3 and TbF3 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized via a solvent extraction route using Cynex923 (R3P=O). X-ray diffraction (XRD) study showed that pure hexagonal phase NdF3 and pure orthorhombic phase TbF3 could be obtained under the current synthetic conditions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations indicated that as-obtained NdF3 nanoplates have a diameter of 50-80 nm and thickness of 10-20 nm and TbF3 products have sphere morphologies with diameter from 70 to 170 nm. The driving force for the growth of NdF3 nanoplates could be attributed to the hexagonal crystal structure. The luminescence properties of NdF3 and TbF3 nanoparticles were investigated, which indicated that NdF3 nanoparticles showed typical emission at 888,1064, and 1328 nm and TbF3 nanoparticles showed characteristic emission of Tb3+ (f-f).

Facile coprecipitation to synthesize water-soluble amine-capped magnetite nanoparticles

Water solubility and surface functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles are crucial for bioapplication.[1]In this study,we presented a facile coprecipitation approach to synthesize lysine stabilized Fe3O4 nanoparticles.Lysine functionalized magnetite nanoparticles show an excellent colloidal stability of ＞20h.The as-synthesized magnetite nanoparticles have abundant amine groups on their surface which provide convenient sites for covalent linking of biological macromolecules.We believe that these amine-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles can be potentially used in fields such as magnetic bio-separation,immunoassay,MRI,and targeted drug delivery.