Fractal aggregates of lanthanide-doped Y₂O₃ nanoparticles obtained by propellant synthesis

Y_2-xLn_xO₃ (Ln 4 Ce, Pr, Nd, Eu, Gd, Ho, and Er) powders obtained by propellant synthesis have been characterized using small-angle x-ray scattering, wide-angle x-ray scattering, and transmission and scanning electron microscopy. All the samples showed a very porous, open microstructure with fractal scaling properties. The building blocks of the fractal aggregates are nanocrystallites of lanthanide-doped Y₂O₃, with variations in the cubic lattice constant proportional to the composition of the solid solution and to the lanthanide ionic radius. The particles had a narrow distribution of sizes with an average value in the 20–50 nm range. They are made of a core of 10–20 nm, consisting of almost perfectly ordered crystals and a “fuzzy” layer, characterized by either a growing lattice disorder or by a compositional gradient. From this dimension, up to at least 200 nm, the particle aggregate is a mass fractal with a fractal dimension, DM_f, in the 1.6–2.0 range.