Nanometer rare earth materials, a new force in the industrial revolution

Nanometer rare earth materials, a new force in the industrial revolution

Nanotechnology is a new interdisciplinary field gradually developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Because it has great potential to create new production processes, new materials and new products, it will set off 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 1950s. Most scientists committed to this field predict that the development of nanotechnology will have a wide and far-reaching impact on many aspects of technology. Scientists believe that it has strange properties and unique performance,The main confinement effects that lead to the strange properties of nano rare earth materials are specific surface effect, small size effect, interface effect, transparency effect, tunnel effect and macroscopic quantum effect. These effects make the physical properties of nano system different from those of conventional materials in light, electricity, heat and magnetism, and present many novel features.In the future, there are three main directions for scientists to research and develop nanotechnology: preparation and application of nanomaterials with excellent performance; Design and prepare various nano devices and equipment; Detecting and analyzing the properties of nano-regions. At present, nano rare earth mainly has the following application directions, and its application needs to be further developed in the future.

Nanometer lanthanum oxide (La2O3)

Nanometer lanthanum oxide is applied to piezoelectric materials, electrothermal materials, thermoelectric materials, magnetoresistance 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 automobile exhaust, and light conversion agricultural films are also applied to nanometer lanthanum oxide.

Nanometer cerium oxide (CeO2)

The main uses of nano cerium oxide are as follows: 1. As a glass additive, nano cerium oxide can absorb ultraviolet rays and infrared rays, and has been applied to automobile glass. It can not only prevent ultraviolet rays, but also reduce the temperature inside the car, thus saving electricity for air conditioning. 2. The application of nano cerium oxide in automobile exhaust purification catalyst can effectively prevent a large amount of automobile exhaust gas from being discharged into the air.3. Nano-cerium oxide can be used in pigment to color plastics, and also can be used in coating, ink and paper industries. 4. The application of nano cerium oxide 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 cerium oxide can also be applied to hydrogen storage materials, thermoelectric materials, nano cerium oxide tungsten electrodes, ceramic capacitors, piezoelectric ceramics, nano cerium oxide silicon carbide abrasives, fuel cell raw materials, gasoline catalysts, some permanent magnetic materials, various alloy steels and non-ferrous metals, etc.

The nanometer praseodymium oxide (Pr6O11)

The main uses of nanometer praseodymium oxide are as follows: 1. It is widely used in building ceramics and daily-use ceramics. It can be mixed with ceramic glaze to make colored glaze, and can also be used as underglaze pigment alone. The prepared pigment is light yellow with pure and elegant tone. 2. It is used to manufacture permanent magnets and is widely used in various electronic devices and motors. 3. It is used for petroleum catalytic cracking.The activity, selectivity and stability of catalysis can be improved. 4. Nano-praseodymium oxide can also be used for abrasive polishing. In addition, the application of nanometer praseodymium oxide in the field of optical fiber is more and more extensive.

Nanometer neodymium oxide (Nd2O3)

Nanometer neodymium oxide has become a hot spot in the market for many years because of its unique position in the field of rare earths. Nano-neodymium oxide is also applied to non-ferrous materials.Adding 1.5%~2.5% nano neodymium oxide into magnesium or aluminum alloy can improve the high temperature performance, air tightness and corrosion resistance of the alloy, and it is widely used as aerospace material for aviation. In addition, nano yttrium aluminum garnet doped with nano neodymium oxide produces short-wave laser beam, which is widely used for welding and cutting thin materials with thickness below 10mm in industry. On the medical side,Nano-YAG laser doped with nano-Nd _ 2O _ 3 is used to remove surgical wounds or disinfect wounds instead of surgical knives. Nanometer neodymium oxide is also used for coloring glass and ceramic materials, rubber products and additives.

Samarium oxide nanoparticles (Sm2O3)

The main uses of nano-sized samarium oxide are: nano-sized samarium oxide is light yellow, which is applied to ceramic capacitors and catalysts. In addition, nano-sized samarium oxide has nuclear properties, and can be used as structural material, shielding material and control material of atomic energy reactor, so that the huge energy generated by nuclear fission can be used safely. Europium oxide nanoparticles (Eu2O3) are mostly used in phosphors.Eu3+ is used as activator of red phosphor, and Eu2+ is used as blue phosphor. Y0O3:Eu3+ is the best phosphor in luminous efficiency, coating stability, recovery cost, etc., and it is being widely used because of the improvement of luminous efficiency and contrast. Recently, nano europium oxide is also used as stimulated emission phosphor for new X-ray medical diagnosis system.Nano-europium oxide can also be used for manufacturing colored lenses and optical filters, for magnetic bubble storage devices, and can also show its talents in control materials, shielding materials and structural materials of atomic reactors. The fine particle gadolinium europium oxide (Y2O3:Eu3+) red phosphor was prepared by using nano yttrium oxide (Y2O3) and nano europium oxide (Eu2O3) as raw materials. When using it to prepare rare earth tricolor phosphor, it was found that:(a) can be well and uniformly mixed with green powder and blue powder; (b) Good coating performance; (c) Because the particle size of red powder is small, the specific surface area increases and the number of luminescent particles increases, the amount of red powder in rare earth tricolor phosphors can be reduced, resulting in lower cost.

Gadolinium oxide nanoparticles (Gd2O3)

Its main uses are as follows: 1. Its water-soluble paramagnetic complex can improve the NMR imaging signal of human body in medical treatment. 2. Base sulfur oxide can be used as matrix grid of oscilloscope tube and X-ray screen with special brightness. 3. Nano-gadolinium oxide in nano-gadolinium gallium garnet is an ideal single substrate for magnetic bubble memory. 4. When there is no Camot cycle limit,It can be used as solid magnetic cooling medium. 5. It is used as an inhibitor to control 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 is helpful to change the vitrification region and improve the thermal stability of glass. The nano gadolinium oxide can also be used for manufacturing capacitors and X-ray intensifying screens.At present, the world is making great efforts to develop the application of nano-gadolinium oxide and its alloys in magnetic refrigeration, and has made breakthrough progress

Terbium oxide nanoparticles (Tb4O7)

The main application fields are as follows: 1. Phosphors are used as activators of green powder in tricolor phosphors, such as phosphate matrix activated by nano terbium oxide, silicate matrix activated by nano terbium oxide and nano cerium oxide magnesium aluminate matrix activated by nano terbium oxide, which all emit green light in the excited state. 2. Magneto-optical storage materials,In recent years, nano-terbium oxide magneto-optical materials have been researched and developed. The magneto-optical disk made of Tb-Fe amorphous film is used as computer storage element, and the storage capacity can be increased by 10~15 times. 3. Magneto-optical glass, Faraday optically active glass containing nanometer terbium oxide, is a key material for making rotators, isolators, annulators and widely used in laser technology.Nanometer terbium oxide nanometer dysprosium oxide is mainly used in sonar, and has been widely used in many fields, such as fuel injection system, liquid valve control, micro-positioning, mechanical actuator, mechanism and wing regulator of aircraft space telescope.

Nano Dysprosium oxide Dy2O3

The main uses of Dy2O3 nano dysprosium oxide are:1. Nano-dysprosium oxide is used as the activator of phosphor, and trivalent nano-dysprosium oxide is a promising activating ion of tricolor luminescent materials with single luminescent center. It mainly consists of two emission bands, one is yellow light emission, the other is blue light emission, and luminescent materials doped with nano-dysprosium oxide can be used as tricolor phosphors.2. Nanometer dysprosium oxide is a necessary metal raw material for preparing Terfenol alloy with large magnetostrictive alloy nano-terbium oxide and nano-dysprosium oxide, which can realize some precise activities of mechanical movement. 3. Nanometer dysprosium oxide metal can be used as magneto-optical storage material with high recording speed and reading sensitivity. 4. Used for the preparation of nanometer dysprosium oxide lamp.The working substance used in nano dysprosium oxide lamp is nano dysprosium oxide, which has the advantages of high brightness, good color, high color temperature, small size and stable arc, and has been used as lighting source for film and printing. 5. Nanometer dysprosium oxide is used to measure neutron energy spectrum or as neutron absorber in atomic energy industry because of its large neutron capture cross-sectional area.

Ho2O3 Nanometer

The main uses of nano-holmium oxide are as follows: 1. As an additive of metal halogen lamp, metal halogen lamp is a kind of gas discharge lamp, which is developed on the basis of high-pressure mercury lamp, and its characteristic is that the bulb is filled with various rare earth halides. At present, rare earth iodides are mainly used, which emit different spectral lines when gas discharges.The working substance used in the nano-holmium oxide lamp is nano-holmium oxide iodide, which can obtain higher metal atom concentration in the arc zone, thus greatly improving the radiation efficiency. 2. Nanometer holmium oxide can be used as additive of yttrium iron or yttrium aluminum garnet; 3. Nano-holmium oxide can be used as yttrium iron aluminum garnet (Ho:YAG), which can emit 2μm laser, and the absorption rate of human tissue to 2μm laser is high.It is almost three orders of magnitude higher than Hd:YAG0. Therefore, when using Ho:YAG laser for medical operation, it can not only improve the operation efficiency and accuracy, but also reduce the thermal damage area to a smaller size. The free beam generated by the nano holmium oxide crystal can eliminate fat without generating excessive heat, thereby reducing the thermal damage caused by healthy tissues.It is reported that the treatment of glaucoma with nanometer holmium oxide laser in the United States can reduce the pain of surgery. 4. In magnetostrictive alloy Terfenol-D, a small amount of nano-sized holmium oxide can also be added to reduce the external field required for saturation magnetization of the alloy.5. In addition, optical fiber doped with nano-holmium oxide can be used to make optical communication devices such as optical fiber lasers, optical fiber amplifiers, optical fiber sensors, etc. It will play a more important role in today's rapid optical fiber communication.

Nano Erbium(III) oxide

The main uses are:

 1. The light emission of nanometer Erbium(III) oxide at 1550nm is of special significance, because this wavelength is exactly the minimum loss of the optical fiber of Fiber-optic communication. After being excited by the light at 980nm and 1480nm, nanometer Erbium(III) oxide ion transitions from the ground state 4115/2 to the high-energy state 4113/2. When the Er3+in the high-energy state transitions back to the ground state, it emits light of 1550nm wavelength. The quartz fiber can transmit light of various wavelengths, However, different optical attenuation rates vary, with the 1550nm frequency band having the lowest optical attenuation rate (0.15 decibels per kilometer) in quartz fiber transmission, which is almost the lower limit attenuation rate. Therefore, when fiber optic communication is used as signal light at 1550nm, the light loss is minimized. In this way, if the appropriate concentration of nano Erbium(III) oxide is doped into the appropriate matrix, the amplifier can compensate the loss in the communication system according to the laser principle. Therefore, in the telecommunication network that needs to amplify the 1550nm optical signal, nano Erbium(III) oxide doped fiber amplifier is an indispensable optical device. At present, nano Erbium(III) oxide doped silica fiber amplifier has been commercialized. It is reported that in order to avoid useless absorption, the doping amount of nano Erbium(III) oxide in the fiber is tens to hundreds of ppm. The rapid development of optical fiber communication will open up a new application field of nano Erbium(III) oxide.

 2. The laser crystal doped with nanometer Erbium(III) oxide and its 1730nm laser and 1550nm laser output are safe for human eyes, have good atmospheric transmission performance, have strong smoke penetration ability to the battlefield, good confidentiality, are not easy to be detected by the enemy, and have a large contrast when illuminating military targets. A portable Laser rangefinder has been made for military use, which is safe for human eyes.

 3. Nanometer Erbium(III) oxide can be added into glass to make rare earth glass laser material, which is the solid laser material with the largest output pulse energy and the highest output power at present.

 4. Nanometer Erbium(III) oxide can also be used as the activation ion of rare earth up conversion laser materials.

 5. Nanometer Erbium(III) oxide can also be used in the decolorization and coloring of eyeglass and crystalline glass.

Nanometer yttrium oxide (Y2O3)

The main uses of nano yttrium oxide are as follows: 1. Additives for steel and nonferrous alloys. FeCr alloy usually contains 0.5%~4% nano yttrium oxide, which can enhance the oxidation resistance and ductility of these stainless steels After adding proper amount of mixed rare earth rich in nanometer yttrium oxide into MB26 alloy, the comprehensive properties of the alloy were obviously improved yesterday,It can replace some medium and strong aluminum alloys for the stressed components of aircraft; Adding a small amount of nano yttrium oxide rare earth into Al-Zr alloy can improve the conductivity of the alloy; The alloy has been adopted by most wire factories in China. Nano-yttrium oxide was added into copper alloy to improve conductivity and mechanical strength. 2. Silicon nitride ceramic material containing 6% nano yttrium oxide and 2% aluminum.It can be used to develop engine parts. 3. Drilling, cutting, welding and other mechanical processing are carried out on large-scale components by using nano neodymium oxide aluminum garnet laser beam with power of 400 watts. 4. The electron microscope screen composed of Y-Al garnet single crystal has high fluorescence brightness, low absorption of scattered light, and good high temperature resistance and mechanical wear resistance.5. High nano yttrium oxide structure alloy containing 90% nano gadolinium oxide can be applied to aviation and other occasions requiring low density and high melting point. 6. High-temperature proton conductive materials containing 90% nano yttrium oxide are of great significance to the production of fuel cells, electrolytic cells and gas sensors requiring high hydrogen solubility. In addition,Nano-yttrium oxide is also used as high-temperature spraying resistant material, diluent of atomic reactor fuel, additive of permanent magnet material and getter in electronic industry.

In addition to the above, nano rare earth oxides can also be used in clothing materials for human health care and environmental protection. From the current research units, they all have certain directions: anti-ultraviolet radiation; Air pollution and ultraviolet radiation are prone to skin diseases and skin cancers; Pollution prevention makes it difficult for pollutants to stick to clothing; It is also being studied in the direction of anti-warm keeping.Because leather is hard and easy to age, it is most prone to mildew in rainy days. The leather can be softened by bleaching with nano rare earth cerium oxide, which is not easy to age and mildew, and it is comfortable to wear. In recent years, nano-coating materials are also the focus of nano-materials research, and the main research focuses on functional coatings. Y2O3 with 80nm in the United States can be used as infrared shielding coating.The efficiency of reflecting heat is very high. 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 easy to age and fall off because the paint is exposed to sunlight and ultraviolet rays for a long time, and it can resist ultraviolet rays after adding cerium oxide and yttrium oxide.Moreover, its particle size is very small, and nano cerium oxide is used as ultraviolet absorber, which is expected to be used to prevent the aging of plastic products due to ultraviolet irradiation, tanks, automobiles, ships, oil storage tanks, etc., which can best protect outdoor large billboards and prevent mildew, moisture and pollution for interior wall coatings. Because of its small particle size, dust is not easy to stick to the wall.And can be scrubbed with water. There are still many uses of nano rare earth oxides to be further researched and developed, and we sincerely hope that it will have a more brilliant future.