Nano rare earth materials, a new force in the industrial revolution
Nanotechnology is an emerging interdisciplinary field that gradually developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Due to its enormous potential to create new production processes, materials, and products, it will trigger a new industrial revolution in the new century. The current development level of nanoscience and nanotechnology is similar to that of computer and information technology in the 1950s. Most scientists committed to this field anticipate that the development of nanotechnology will have a broad and profound impact on many aspects of technology. Scientists believe that it has strange properties and unique properties, and the main limiting effects that lead to the strange properties of nano rare earth materials include specific surface effect, small size effect, interface effect, transparency effect, tunneling effect, and macroscopic quantum effect. These effects make the physical properties of nano systems different from conventional materials, such as light, electricity, heat, and magnetism, resulting in many novel features. There are three main directions for future scientists to research and develop nanotechnology: the preparation and application of high-performance nanomaterials; Design and prepare various nano devices and equipment; Detect and analyze the properties of nano regions. At present, there are mainly some application directions for nano rare earths, and the future uses of nano rare earths need to be further developed.
Nano lanthanum oxide is applied to piezoelectric materials, electrothermal materials, thermoelectric materials, magnetoresistive materials, luminescent materials (blue powder) hydrogen storage materials, optical glass, laser materials, various alloy materials, catalysts for preparing organic chemical products, and catalysts for neutralizing automotive exhaust. Light conversion agricultural films are also applied to nano lanthanum oxide.
The main uses of nano ceria include: 1. As a glass additive, nano ceria can absorb ultraviolet and infrared rays and has been applied to automotive glass. Not only can it prevent ultraviolet radiation, but it can also reduce the temperature inside the car, thereby saving electricity for air conditioning. 2. The application of nano cerium oxide in automotive exhaust purification catalysts can effectively prevent a large amount of automotive exhaust gas from being discharged into the air. 3. Nano cerium oxide can be applied to pigments to color plastics and can also be used in industries such as coatings, ink, and paper. 4. The application of nano ceria in polishing materials has been widely recognized as a high-precision requirement for polishing silicon wafers and sapphire single crystal substrates. 5. In addition, nano ceria can also be applied to hydrogen storage materials, thermoelectric materials, nano ceria tungsten electrodes, ceramic capacitors, piezoelectric ceramics, nano ceria silicon carbide abrasives, fuel cell raw materials, gasoline catalysts, certain permanent magnet materials, various alloy steels, and non-ferrous metals.
Nanometer Praseodymium Oxide (Pr6O11)
The main uses of nano praseodymium oxide include: 1. It is widely used in building ceramics and daily ceramics. It can be mixed with ceramic glaze to make color glaze, or can be used as underglaze pigment alone. The pigment produced is light yellow, with a pure and elegant color tone. 2. Used for manufacturing permanent magnets, widely used in various electronic devices and motors. 3. Used for petroleum catalytic cracking, it can improve catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. 4. Nano praseodymium oxide can also be used for abrasive polishing. In addition, the use of nano praseodymium oxide in the field of optical fibers is also becoming increasingly widespread.
Nanometer neodymium oxide (Nd2O3)
Nanometer neodymium oxide element has become a hot topic of market attention for many years due to its unique position in the rare earth field. Nanometer neodymium oxide is also applied to non-ferrous metal materials. Adding 1.5% to 2.5% nano neodymium oxide to magnesium or aluminum alloys can improve the high-temperature performance, airtightness, and corrosion resistance of the alloy, and is widely used as an aerospace material. In addition, nano yttrium aluminum garnet doped withnano neodymium oxidee generates short wave laser beams, which are widely used in industry for welding and cutting thin materials with a thickness of less than 10mm. In medical practice, nano yttrium aluminum garnet lasers doped with nano neodymium oxide are used instead of surgical knives to remove surgical or disinfect wounds. Nano neodymium oxide is also used for coloring glass and ceramic materials, as well as for rubber products and additives.
The main uses of nanoscale samarium oxide include its light yellow color, which is used in ceramic capacitors and catalysts. In addition, nano samarium oxide also has nuclear properties and can be used as a structural material, shielding material, and control material for atomic reactors, enabling the safe utilization of the enormous energy generated by nuclear fission.
Nanoscale europium oxide (Eu2O3)
Nanoscale europium oxide is mostly used in fluorescent powders. Eu3+is used as an activator for red phosphors, and Eu2+is used for blue phosphors. Nowadays, Y0O3: Eu3+is the best phosphor for luminescence efficiency, coating stability, and cost recovery. In addition, with improvements in technologies such as improving luminescence efficiency and contrast, it is being widely used. Recently, nano europium oxide has also been used as a stimulated emission phosphor in new X-ray medical diagnostic systems. Nano europium oxide can also be used to manufacture colored lenses and optical filters, for magnetic bubble storage devices, and in control materials, shielding materials, and structural materials of atomic reactors. Fine particle gadolinium europium oxide (Y2O3Eu3+) red fluorescent powder was prepared using nano yttrium oxide (Y2O3) and nano europium oxide (Eu2O3) as raw materials. When preparing rare earth tricolor fluorescent powder, it was found that: (a) it can mix well with green powder and blue powder; (b) Good coating performance; (c) Due to the small particle size of red powder, the specific surface area increases, and the number of luminescent particles increases, which can reduce the amount of red powder used in rare earth tricolor phosphors, resulting in a decrease in cost.
Its main uses include: 1. Its water-soluble paramagnetic complex can improve the magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging signal of the human body in medical applications. 2. Base sulfur oxides can be used as matrix grids for special brightness oscilloscope tubes and X-ray fluorescence screens. 3. The nano gadolinium oxide in nano gadolinium oxide gallium garnet is an ideal single substrate for magnetic bubble memory memory memory. 4. When there is no Camot cycle limitation, it can be used as a solid-state magnetic cooling medium. 5. Used as an inhibitor for controlling the chain reaction level of nuclear power plants to ensure the safety of nuclear reactions. In addition, the use of nano gadolinium oxide and nano lanthanum oxide together helps to change the glass transition zone and improve the thermal stability of the glass. Nano gadolinium oxide can also be used for manufacturing capacitors and X-ray intensifying screens. Efforts are currently being made worldwide to develop the application of nano gadolinium oxide and its alloys in magnetic cooling, and breakthroughs have been made.
Nanometer terbium oxide (Tb4O7)
The main application areas include: 1. Fluorescent powder is used as an activator for green powder in three primary color fluorescent powders, such as phosphate matrix activated by nano terbium oxide, silicate matrix activated by nano terbium oxide, and nano cerium magnesium aluminate matrix activated by nano terbium oxide, all emitting green light in the excited state. 2. In recent years, research and development have been conducted on nano terbium oxide based magneto-optical materials for magneto-optical storage. A magneto-optical disc developed using Tb-Fe amorphous thin film as a computer storage element can increase storage capacity by 10-15 times. 3. Magneto optical glass, Faraday rotatory glass containing nano terbium oxide, is a key material used in the manufacturing of rotators, isolators, and ringers widely used in laser technology. Nano terbium oxide and nano dysprosium iron oxide have been mainly used in sonar and have been widely used in various fields, from fuel injection systems, liquid valve control, micro positioning to mechanical actuators, mechanisms, and wing regulators for aircraft and space telescopes.
The main uses of nano dysprosium oxide (Dy2O3) nano dysprosium oxide are: 1. Nano dysprosium oxide is used as a fluorescent powder activator, and trivalent nano dysprosium oxide is a promising activation ion for a single luminescent center three primary color luminescent material. It is mainly composed of two emission bands, one is yellow light emission, and the other is blue light emission. The luminescent material doped with nano dysprosium oxide can be used as a three primary color fluorescent powder. 2. Nano dysprosium oxide is a necessary metal raw material for preparing large magnetostrictive alloy nano terbium oxide nano dysprosium iron oxide (Terfenol) alloy, which can enable some precise mechanical movements to be achieved. 3. Nano dysprosium oxide metal can be used as a magneto-optical storage material with high recording speed and reading sensitivity. 4. Used for the preparation of nano dysprosium oxide lamps, the working substance used in nano dysprosium oxide lamps is nano dysprosium oxide. This type of lamp has advantages such as high brightness, good color, high color temperature, small size, and stable arc. It has been used as a lighting source for movies, printing, and other lighting applications. 5. Due to the large neutron capture cross-sectional area of nano dysprosium oxide, it is used in the atomic energy industry to measure neutron spectra or as a neutron absorber.
The main uses of nano holmium oxide include: 1. as an additive for metal halide lamps. Metal halide lamps are a type of gas discharge lamp developed on the basis of high-pressure mercury lamps, characterized by filling the bulb with various rare earth halides. At present, the main use israre earth iodide, which emits different spectral colors during gas discharge. The working substance used in the nano holmium oxide lamp is iodized nano holmium oxide, which can achieve a high concentration of metal atoms in the arc zone, greatly improving radiation efficiency. 2. Nano holmium oxide can be used as an additive for yttrium iron or yttrium aluminum garnet; 3.Nano holmium oxide can be used as yttrium iron aluminum garnet (Ho: YAG) to emit 2 μ M laser, human tissue on 2 μ The absorption rate of m laser is high, almost three orders of magnitude higher than that of Hd: YAG0. So when using Ho: YAG laser for medical surgery, not only can the surgical efficiency and accuracy be improved, but also the thermal damage area can be reduced to a smaller size. The free beam generated by nano holmium oxide crystals can eliminate fat without generating excessive heat, thereby reducing thermal damage to healthy tissues. It is reported that the use of nano holmium oxide lasers in the United States to treat glaucoma can reduce the pain of patients undergoing surgery. 4. In the magnetostrictive alloy Terfenol D, a small amount of nano holmium oxide can also be added to reduce the external field required for saturation magnetization of the alloy. 5. In addition, optical communication devices such as fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, and fiber sensors can be made using fibers doped with nano holmium oxide, which will play a more important role in the rapid development of fiber optic communication today.
The main uses of nano erbium oxide include: 1. The light emission of Er3+at 1550nm has special significance, as this wavelength is precisely located at the lowest loss of optical fibers in fiber optic communication. After being excited by light at a wavelength of 980nm1480nm, nano erbium oxide ions (Er3+) transition from ground state 4115/2 to high-energy state 4113/2, and emit 1550nm wavelength light when Er3+in the high-energy state transitions back to the ground state, Quartz optical fibers can transmit various wavelengths of light, but the optical attenuation rate varies. The 1550nm frequency band of light has the lowest optical attenuation rate (0.15 decibels per kilometer) in the transmission of quartz optical fibers, which is almost the lower limit of the attenuation rate. Therefore, when fiber optic communication is used as signal light at 1550nm, the light loss is minimized. In this way, if an appropriate concentration of nano erbium oxide is doped into a suitable matrix, the amplifier can compensate for losses in communication systems based on the principle of laser. Therefore, in telecommunications networks that require amplification of 1550nm optical signals, nano erbium oxide doped fiber amplifiers are essential optical devices. Currently, nano erbium oxide doped silica fiber amplifiers have been commercialized. According to reports, in order to avoid useless absorption, the doping amount of nano erbium oxide in optical fibers ranges from tens to hundreds of ppm. The rapid development of fiber optic communication will open up new fields for the application of nano erbium oxide. 2. In addition, laser crystals doped with nano erbium oxide and their output 1730nm and 1550nm lasers are safe for human eyes, with good atmospheric transmission performance, strong penetration ability for battlefield smoke, good confidentiality, and are not easily detected by enemies. The contrast of irradiation on military targets is relatively large, and a portable laser rangefinder for human eye safety has been developed for military use. 3. Er3+can be added to glass to make rare earth glass laser materials, which is currently the solid-state laser material with the highest output pulse energy and output power. 4. Er3+can also be used as an activation ion for rare earth upconversion laser materials. 5. In addition, nano erbium oxide can also be used for decolorization and coloring of eyeglass lenses and crystalline glass.
Nanometer yttrium oxide (Y2O3)
The main uses of nano yttrium oxide include: 1. additives for steel and non-ferrous alloys. FeCr alloys typically contain 0.5% to 4% nano yttrium oxide, which can enhance the oxidation resistance and ductility of these stainless steels; After adding an appropriate amount of rich nano yttrium oxide mixed rare earth to MB26 alloy, the overall performance of the alloy has significantly improved, and it can replace some medium strength aluminum alloys for aircraft load-bearing components; Adding a small amount of nano yttrium rare earth oxide to Al Zr alloy can improve the conductivity of the alloy; This alloy has been adopted by most domestic wire factories; Adding nano yttrium oxide to copper alloys improves conductivity and mechanical strength. 2. Containing 6% nano yttrium oxide and aluminum 2% silicon nitride ceramic material can be used to develop engine components. 3. Use a 400 watt nano neodymium oxide aluminum garnet laser beam to perform mechanical processing such as drilling, cutting, and welding on large components. 4. The electron microscope fluorescent screen composed of Y-Al garnet single crystal wafers has high fluorescence brightness, low absorption of scattered light, good resistance to high temperature and mechanical wear. 5. high nano yttrium oxide structured alloys containing up to 90% nano gadolinium oxide can be used in aviation and other applications that require low density and high melting point. 6. High temperature proton conducting materials containing up to 90% nano yttrium oxide are of great significance for the production of fuel cells, electrolytic cells, and gas sensing components that require high hydrogen solubility. In addition, nano yttrium oxide is also used as a high-temperature spraying material, a diluent for atomic reactor fuel, an additive for permanent magnet materials, and as a getter in the electronic industry.
In addition to the above, nano rare earth oxides can also be used in clothing materials with human health and environmental performance. From the current research unit, they all have a certain direction: resistance to ultraviolet radiation; Air pollution and ultraviolet radiation are prone to skin diseases and cancer; Preventing pollution makes it difficult for pollutants to stick to clothing; Research is also underway in the field of thermal insulation. Due to the hardness and easy aging of leather, it is most prone to mold spots on rainy days. Drifting in with nano rare earth cerium oxide can make the leather softer, less prone to aging and mold, and also very comfortable to wear. Nanocoating materials have also been a hot topic in nanomaterial research in recent years, with the main focus on functional coatings. The United States uses 80nm Y2O3 as an infrared shielding coating, which has a high efficiency in reflecting heat. CeO2 has high refractive index and high stability. When nano rare earth yttrium oxide, nano lanthanum oxide and nano cerium oxide powder are added to the coating, the exterior wall can resist aging. Because the exterior wall coating is prone to aging and falling off due to the paint being exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays and long-term wind and sun exposure, the addition of cerium oxide and yttrium oxide can resist ultraviolet radiation, and its particle size is very small. Nano cerium oxide is used as the ultraviolet absorber, It is expected to be used to prevent the aging of plastic products due to ultraviolet radiation, as well as the UV aging of tanks, cars, ships, oil storage tanks, etc., and to play a role in outdoor large billboards
The best protection is for the interior wall coating to prevent mold, moisture, and pollution, as its particle size is very small, making it difficult for dust to stick to the wall and can be wiped with water. There are still many uses for nano rare earth oxides that need further research and development, and we sincerely hope that it will have a more brilliant tomorrow.