Synthesis and sol-gel assembly of nanophosphors

Some recent works made in our group on inorganic nanophosphors are briefly reviewed in this paper. We first present the synthesis of highly concentrated semiconductor quantum dot colloids allowing the extension of the well-known oxide sol-gel process to chalcogenide compounds. Secondly, we show the synthesis and the chemical functionalization of lanthanide-doped insulator nanoparticles. In particular, the annealing process of these particles at high temperature leads to highly bright nanocrystals, which can be used as biological luminescent labels or for integration in transparent luminescent coatings. Finally, we consider luminescent transition metal clusters, which combine the inorganic structure of nanoparticles with the monodispersity and the easy functionalization of the organic molecules. Emphasis is put on the original thermochromic luminescence properties of copper iodide clusters trapped in siloxane-based films.