Insights into the local structure of Tb-doped KY3F10 nanoparticles from Synchrotron X‑ray Diffraction

Abstract

Pure and Tb-doped nanocrystalline KY3F10 specimens were synthesized by coprecipitation, and portions of the samples underwent further heat treatment at 600 °C in a fluorinated atmosphere. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction patterns acquired at 30 keV allowed to determine both long- and shortrange ordered structures by Rietveld and pair distribution function (PDF) analyses, respectively. PDF examination of the as-synthesized sample allowed to discern a slight deviation from the basic cubic building unit because the Y−F bond lengths could be explained in S.G. I4/mmm with cell parameters a = 8.1520(9) Å and c = 11.5876(29) Å, whereas Rietveld analysis could equally well fit both the cubic and tetragonal descriptions for the heat-treated specimens. Also, PDF revealed that the as-synthesized sample exhibited less structural coherence than the heattreated one.