Search

In the present work, an in-depth study on the sol-gel process for the fabrication of Eu-doped CaF2 materials in the form of thin films has been addressed for the production of down-shifting layers. Fine-tuning of the operative parameters, such as the annealing temperature, substrate nature and doping ion percentage, has been finalized in order to obtain Eu(III)-doped CaF2 thin films via a reproducible and selective solution process for down-shifting applications. An accurate balance of such parameters allows for obtaining films with high uniformity in terms of both their structural and compositional features. The starting point of the synthesis is the use of a mixture of Ca(hfa)2•diglyme•H2O and Eu(hfa)3•diglyme adducts, with a suited ratio to produce 5%, 10% and 15% Eu-doped CaF2 films, in a water/ethanol solution. A full investigation of the structural, morphological and compositional features of the films, inspected using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), respectively, has stated a correlation between the annealing temperature and the structural characteristics and morphology of the CaF2 thin films. Interestingly, crystalline CaF2 films are obtained at quite low temperatures of 350–400 °C. The down-shifting properties, validated by taking luminescence measurements under UV excitation, have allowed us to correlate the local environment in terms of the degree of symmetry around the europium ions with the relative doping ion percentages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water electrolysis for green hydrogen production is gaining tremendous attention in the quest towards sustainable energy sources. At the heart of water splitting technology are the electrocatalysts, which facilitate the two half-cell reactions, i.e., the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with the latter being the most thermodynamically uphill. Herein, we managed to fabricate Ni 1-x Fe x O microflowers (μFs) with varying % of Fe doping (0 < x < 0.36) via an easy chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The as-synthesized μFs drop-casted on graphene paper (GP) are then applied as electrocatalysts for OER. Compared to contrast catalysts, the electrocatalyst with x Fe = 0.1 exhibits a lower overpotential of 297 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2, Tafel slope of 44 mV dec−1 and unprecedented turnover frequency of 4.6 s−1 at 300 mV. It is believed that this remarkable electrochemical performance mainly stems from the synergistic effects of Ni and Fe species, working in harmony to enhance charge transfer kinetics and intrinsic activity of the catalyst. This work provides a promising avenue for developing cost-effective and highly active electrocatalysts as advanced electrodes for energy related applications. [Display omitted] • Highly active NiFe-based electrocatalysts synthesized by a simple chemical route. • Effect of Fe doping concentration on oxygen evolution reaction of NiO. • Exceptional turnover frequency of Fe-doped NiO electrodes in alkaline conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]