Synthesis of nanocrystalline LaF3 doped silica glasses by hydrofluoric acid catalyzed sol–gel process

Silica glasses doped with LaF3 nanocrystals were prepared by HF-catalyzed sol–gel method. HF was used both as fluorine source and as catalyst of the sol–gel reaction, making it possible to shorten the processing time with reducing the concentration of SiOH groups to ∼1018 cm−3. The resultant glasses are transparent at visible spectral range, and the optical loss at the ultraviolet absorption edge is dominated by the Rayleigh scattering from LaF3 crystallites. The size of LaF3 crystallites increases with an increase in the sintering temperature and time, and is smaller than ∼40 nm in samples showing good visible transparency. Green upconversion photoluminescence is observed in an Er3+-doped sample under excitation at 980 nm.

► Silica glasses doped by LaF3 nanocrystals are obtained by HF-catalyzed sol–gel method.
► The processing time (∼1 week) is much shorter than that of previous studies.
► The uptake of SiF groups in the glass matrix greatly reduces the SiOH concentration.
► Effects of sintering conditions and properties of Er3+-doped samples are presented.