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Spectrofluorimetric Characterization of an Ionic Conductor: Sodium Sulfate High-Temperature Phases Doped with Europium(III)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2011
Abstract
The highest-temperature polymorph of sodium sulfate, (I), has significant orientational disorder in its structure which allows it to readily accept substitution by di- and trivalent cations. Although Na2SO4 (I) exhibits reasonable ionic conductivity, it cannot be quenched to room temperature without changing phase. However, aliovalent solid solutions of (I) can be quenched to RT and resultant cation vacancies promote conduction via Na+ migration. The closely related but more ordered phase Na2SO4 (III) can also form aliovalent solid solutions which can be quenched to RT.
The europium(III) ion is an extremely sensitive and useful probe of its immediate local environment. The presence, location, and intensity of its fluorescence transitions (particularly the 5D0→7F0-2 emissions) can provide detailed information about the symmetry, nature, and multiplicity of the individual Eu3+ site which cannot be gained from X-ray or neutron diffraction techniques.
Our research (supported by the National Science Foundation and the State of Oklahoma) involves the structural characterization of two europium-doped sodium sulfate phases via fluorescence spectroscopy.
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