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AlB4O6N, Al0.97Cr0.03B4O6N, and Al0.83Cr0.17B4O6N are the first representatives of the recently established structure‐family of oxonitridoborates containing Al3+. These compounds are isotypic to CrB4O6N and are synthesized in a multi‐anvil press under high‐pressure/high‐temperature conditions of 7.0 GPa/1350 °C. Structural refinement by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction shows that they crystallize in the space group P63mc (no. 186) with two formula units per cell. Detailed characterization including high‐temperature X‐ray powder diffraction (HT‐XRD), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), measurements of second harmonic generation (SHG), hardness, photoluminescence properties, vibrational spectroscopy, and band structure calculations reveal intriguing physicochemical properties that strongly resemble the famous material ruby. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an article published in Advanced Functional Materials, Markus Suta, Hubert Huppertz, and their colleagues introduce a new oxonitridoborate compound called AlB4O6N:Cr3+. This compound exhibits a highly efficient red line emission and has the potential to serve as an alternative luminescent pressure sensor. The researchers suggest that AlB4O6N:Cr3+ could offer more precise pressure calibration in diamond anvil cells compared to the current standard, ruby. The authors express gratitude to Abraham Siedler and Marie-Theres Wildauer for their contributions to the design of the inside back cover. [Extracted from the article]

Lanthanide‐doped luminescent nanoparticles are an appealing system for nanothermometry with biomedical applications due to their sensitivity, reliability, and minimal invasive thermal sensing properties. Here, four unique hybrid organic–inorganic materials prepared by combining β‐NaGdF4 and PMOs (periodic mesoporous organosilica) or mSiO2 (mesoporous silica) are proposed. PMO/mSiO2 materials are excellent candidates for biological/biomedical applications as they show high biocompatibility with the human body. On the other hand, the β‐NaGdF4 matrix is an excellent host for doping lanthanide ions, even at very low concentrations with yet very efficient luminescence properties. A new type of Er3+–Yb3+ upconversion luminescence nanothermometers operating both in the visible and near infrared regime is proposed. Both spectral ranges permit promising thermometry performance even in aqueous environment. It is additionally confirmed that these hybrid materials are non‐toxic to cells, which makes them very promising candidates for real biomedical thermometry applications. In several of these materials, the presence of additional voids leaves space for future theranostic or combined thermometry and drug delivery applications in the hybrid nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence of Yb2+ doped into the halidoperovskites CsMX3 (M = Ca, Sr; X = Cl, Br, I) is presented. Yb2+ shows spin-forbidden high-spin (HS) and spin-allowed low-spin (LS) emission bands in all compounds. Upon excitation of the higher energetic LS transition, very different behaviors of the interplay of the two emissive transitions are observed. In the chlorides, the HS-based emission becomes already dominant at higher temperatures than 50 K; in the bromides, a temperature-dependent population of the HS state is observed at higher temperatures than 200 K, whereas in the iodides, the LS emission remains dominant even above 300 K. A vibrational relaxation model is attempted for the explanation of this behavior that reveals a very delicate dependence on the mode energies of the [YbX6]4− octahedra. FIR spectra of the pure Yb2+-based compounds CsYbX3 are also presented to experimentally verify the estimated average mode energies from the model. Finally, the relevance for novel Yb2+-based scintillators is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new microporous metal organic framework [La2(H2O)5(H2TPPE)]·3H2O (CAU‐54), is obtained in a hydrothermal reaction of the linker 1,1,2,2‐tetrakis(4′‐phosphonophenyl)ethylene (H8TPPE) and La3+ ions. The extensive characterization including temperature‐dependent crystal structures and spectroscopic properties allowed to understand the unique, multi‐responsive material properties. CAU‐54 exhibits rarely observed reversible photochromism as well as turn‐on photoluminescence by various external chemical or physical stimuli including change of pressure, solvent exchange, and temperature variation. These properties can be unequivocally assigned to the presence of tetraphenylethylene (TPE) moieties of the linker molecules within the MOF, i.e., the ordered spatial arrangement of the linker molecules, the presence of accessible pores as well as the coordination flexibility of the phosphonate groups and the rotational freedom of the linker. By temperature‐dependent steady‐state and time‐resolved luminescence studies, it is shown that this compound exhibits a) blue fluorescence that becomes effectively quenched at room temperature, b) green efficient luminescence with thermal stability up to 400 K, and c) red phosphorescence correlated to the observed photochromism. In addition, CAU‐54 shows unusual thermal expansion properties as shown by temperature‐dependent powder X‐ray diffraction measurements with identified transition points that correlate with the observed temperature‐dependent changes in the photoluminescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]