Competitive nanocrystallization of Na3ScF6 and NaYbF4 in aluminosilicate glass and optical spectroscopy of Ln3+ dopants

The precipitation of monoclinic Na3ScF6 nanocrystals from aluminosilicate glass with specially designed compositions of SiO2-Al2O3-Na2O-NaF-ScF3-YbF3 was achieved for the first time. Impressively, competitive nanocrystallization of cubic NaYbF4 and monoclinic Na3ScF6 has been evidenced to be dependent on Na+ content and F/Na ratio in glass. Adopting Er3+ and Eu3+ dopants as structural probes, optical spectroscopic analyses verified that these emissive centers preferred to partition into NaYbF4 nanocrystals rather than Na3ScF6 ones.