Size-Dependent High-Pressure Behavior of Pure and Eu3+-Doped Y2O3 Nanoparticles: Insights from Experimental and Theoretical Investigations

[EN] We report a joint high-pressure experimental and theoretical study of the structural, vibrational, and photoluminescent properties of pure and Eu3+-doped cubic Y2O3 nanoparticles with two very different average particle sizes. We compare the results of synchrotron X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, and photoluminescence measurements in nanoparticles with ab initio density-functional simulations in bulk material with the aim to understand the influence of the average particle size on the properties of pure and doped Y2O3 nanoparticles under compression. We observe that the high-pressure phase behavior of Y2O3 nanoparticles depends on the average particle size, but in a different way to that previously reported. Nanoparticles with an average particle size of similar to 37 nm show the same pressure-induced phase transition sequence on upstroke and downstroke as the bulk sample; however, nanoparticles with an average particle size of similar to 6 nm undergo an irreversible pressure-induced amorphization above 16 GPa that is completed above 24 GPa. On downstroke, 6 nm nanoparticles likely consist of an amorphous phase. This publication is part of the project MALTA Consolider Team network (RED2022-134388-T), financed by MINECO/AEI/10.13039/501100003329; I+D+i projects PID2021-125927NB-C21, PID2019-106383GB-42/43, PGC2021-125518NB-I00 (cofinanced by EU FEDER funds) and PID2022-138076NB-C42/C44 financed by the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033); project CIPROM/2021/075 (GREENMAT) financed by Generalitat Valenciana; CIAICO/2021/241; S & atilde;o Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), grants no 2022/02994-2; and Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), grants no 201050/2012-9 and 310778/2021-2. This study also forms part of the Advanced Materials program and was supported by MCIN with funding from the European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1) and by Generalitat Valenciana through projects MFA/2022/007 and MFA/2022/025. We also thank DIAMOND and ALBA synchrotron light sources for funded experiments EE6073 and 2012100398 at the I15 and MSPD-BL04 beamlines, respectively. Pereira, ALDJ.; Sans, JÁ.; Gomis, O.; Santamaria-Pérez, D.; Ray, S.; Godoy, A.; Da Silva-Sobrinho, AS... (2024). Size-Dependent High-Pressure Behavior of Pure and Eu3+-Doped Y2O3 Nanoparticles: Insights from Experimental and Theoretical Investigations. Nanomaterials. 14(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14080721