Luminescent CeCl3 nanoparticles by Tris(1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionato)cerium diglyme photolysis in chlorinated solvents

Irradiation of [Ce(hfac)3(diglyme)] (hfac = 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionato and diglyme (DG) = 2,5,8,11,14-pentaoxapentadecane) in chlorinated solvents (CH2Cl2, CCl4) with UV light led to luminescent colloidal CeCl3 that was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. When a substrate, quartz or silicon was present in the reaction cell, photoluminescent films were obtained, containing either pure CeCl3 or mixtures of CeCl3, CeF3 and CeOx in function of the experimental parameters of irradiation. Nanostructured and luminescent pure CeCl3 films were obtained by irradiation of the cerium complex in CCl4 at high intensity light for a few minutes. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), TEM, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The kinetics of the [Ce(hfac)3(diglyme)] solution photodegradation, followed by UV spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry, pointed to CeCl3 formation by a solvent-initiated reaction, whereas the other inorganic compounds were the products of side reactions.