Lanthanum oxyfluoride nanostructures prepared by modified sonochemical method and their use in the fields of optoelectronics and biotechnology

Abstract

Dysprosium doped lanthanum oxyfluoride nanostructures were prepared by modified sonochemical method using Aloe Vera gel as a bio-surfactant. The morphology of the product was systematically studied by varying different experimental parameters including concentration of surfactant, sonication time, pH and sonication power. It was found that some of these above parameters play a key role in tuning the morphology of the product. The photoluminescence studies exhibited characteristic emission peaks at ∼483 nm, 574 nm and 674 nm attributed to 4F9/2 → 6H15/2, 4F9/2 → 6H13/2 and 4F9/2 → 6H11/2 transitions of Dy3+ ions respectively. The optimal concentration of Dy3+ ions was found to be ∼3 mol%. The photometric studies revealed that the prepared samples were quite useful for the fabrication of white light emitting diodes. The optimized product was also tested for their capability as an antigen against the bacterial and fungal pathogens. The present method of preparation may be scaled up easily to the larger production for industrial applications. The optimized sample showed an effective visualization of latent fingerprints on various forensic relevant materials and also showed effective antimicrobial potential for applications in nanobiotechnology.

Keywords

• Sonochemical method
• Photoluminescence
• Latent fingerprint
• Antimicrobial
• Antifungal