Descripción del proyecto
ORTHOVANADATES AVO4 (A = Y, SC, BI, IN OR A TRIVALENT LANTHANIDE) ARE TECHNOLOGICALLY IMPORTANT MATERIALS DUE TO THEIR WIDE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: SCINTILLATORS, THERMOPHOSPHORUS SENSORS, PHOTOCATALYSIS MATERIALS, LITHIUM ION BATTERIES, CATHODOLUMINESCENCE, AND NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE, THEY ARE ALSO USED AS LASER-HOST MATERIALS WHEN DOPED WITH TRIVALENT RARE-EARTH IMPURITIES DUE TO THEIR HIGH-OPTICAL CONVERSION EFFICIENCY, HIGH BIREFRINGENCE, AND GOOD THERMAL PROPERTIES, NANOSTRUCTURED ORTHOVANADATES HAVE ATTRACTED CONSIDERABLE RESEARCH INTEREST AS PHOTOCATALYSTS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ALTERNATIVE GREEN TECHNOLOGY, IN PARTICULAR, PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITITY USING VISIBLE LIGHT IRRADIATION HAS BEEN REPORTED IN BIVO4 AND INVO4 FOR REDUCTION OF WATER TO H2 (AS A H2 SOURCE) OR CO2 TO CARBON-BASED MOLECULES, DEGRADATION OF DIFFERENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS AN EVEN DESTRUCTION OF MICROORGANISMS, IN ADDITION, NANOSTRUCTURED ORTHOVANADATES DOPED WITH RARE-EARTH IONS HAVE ALSO SHOWN VERY INTERESTING UPCONVERSION LUMINESCENT PROPERTIES, DUE TO THEIR LOW TOXICITY, HIGH CHEMICAL AND OPTICAL STABILITY, TUNABLE EMISSIONS, AND BIOCOMPATIBILITY, LANTHANIDE-DOPED ORTHOVANADATES ARE VERY PROMISING NANOPHOSPHORS FOR BIOMEDICAL IMAGING,IN ORDER TO DEVELOP FURTHER THE DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS OF ORTHOVANADATES, THE STUDY ON NANOCRYSTALS UNDER HIGH-PRESSURE CAN BE AN EFFICIENT TOOL, IN PARTICULAR, ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES IS THE SYNTHESIS OF METASTABLE NANOCRYSTALLINE PHASES WITH NOVEL STRUCTURES AND BETTER CHARACTERISTICS THAT THE STABLE PHASES, IN MANY CASES, THE CRYSTAL-STRUCTURES THAT NOT EXIST IN BULK FORMAT CAN BE SYNTHESIZED FOR NANO-CRYSTALS AT HIGH PRESSURE, THEREFORE, THE STUDY OF NANO-ORTHOVANADATES UNDER HIGH PRESSURE (AND HIGH TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS) OFFERS NEW PATHS BOTH FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF FUNDAMENTAL PHENOMENA AND FOR THE ELABORATION OF NEW MATERIALS WITH NEW OR IMPROVED PROPERTIES, IN THIS PROJECT, WE WILL STUDY DIFFERENT ORTHOVANADATES (UNDOPED AND DOPED WITH RARE EARTHS) WITH THE AIM OF DISCOVERING AND SYNTHESIZING NOVEL METASTABLE PHASES, THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP MATERIALS TO COVER A VARIABLE BAND-GAP REGION, IN PARTICULAR IN THE 2 - 3 EV RANGE, MEETING DIFFERENT PRESENT NEEDS IN SUNLIGHT-DRIVEN PHOTOCATALYSIS, THESE CUSTOMIZED VANADATES WILL BE DEVELOPED FIRST IN BULK FORMAT AND THEN AS NANOCOMPOUNDS, SINCE IN THIS FORMAT THEIR EFFICIENCY IS KNOWN TO BE IMPROVED, THE PROJECT WILL BE MAINLY FOCUSED ON THOSE COMPOUNDS THAT HAVE THE SMALLER EG AT AMBIENT CONDITIONS (BIVO4, INVO4, LAVO4 AND CEVO4), BUT THE REST OF THE FAMILY WILL NOT BE EXCLUDED FROM THE PROJECT, REGARDING THE DOPED NANOMATERIALS, THE MAIN INTEREST IS TO SYNTHESIZE NEW COMPOUNDS WITH TUNABLE EMISSIONS WITH INTERESTING PROPERTIES AS NANOPHOSPHORS WHICH HAVE BEEN RECENTLY TESTED IN BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS,THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SYNTHESIZED MATERIALS AT EXTREME AND/OR AMBIENT CONDITIONS WILL BE MADE BY OPTICAL AND VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY (ABSORPTION, LUMINESCENCE, RAMAN, IR), STRUCTURAL MEASUREMENTS USING CONVENTIONAL SOURCES AS WELL AS SYNCHROTRON RADIATION (X-RAY DIFFRACTION AND ABSORPTION: XRD AND XAS) OR NEUTRON (DIFFRACTION) FACILITIES, TRANSPORT MEASUREMENTS, AND HIGH-RESOLUTION MICROSCOPY, THE EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES WILL BE COMBINED WITH THEORETICAL CALCULATIONS BASED ON FIRST PRINCIPLES METHODS, ORTOVANADATOS\ CONDICIONES EXTREMAS\ ALTA PRESIÓN\ ALTA TEMPERATURA\ BULK Y NANOCRISTALES\ APLICACIONES TECNOLÓGICAS