Innovative materials based on sol–gel technology

Abstract We review the sol–gel based new materials which were prepared in our laboratory including: tunable lasers, active waveguides, luminescent solar concentrators, electrochromic, photochromic and gasochromic plates for smart windows, chemical and biological sensors, semiconductor quantum dots and complexes of rare earth ions. In this paper we present the firstly obtained results of the Eu sulfide nanocrystalline (NCs) powder material and doped in the sol–gel based zirconia films. The powder and films were studied by high resolution transmittance electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis (EDS) and luminescence spectroscopy. Eu sulfide nanocrystals (NCs) ranging between 8 and 10 nm were obtained as powder and 3–4 nm incorporated in zirconia film.