July 3, 2023 - Advancements in Technology, Aided by Lanthanides

Advancements in Technology, Aided by Lanthanides

This blog post is in response to the article "The Role of Lanthanide Luminescence in Advancing Technology" from the journal RSC Advances. Written by Gabriella Tessitore, Gabrielle A. Mandl, Steven L. Maurizio, Mannu Kaur, and John A. Capobianco, the authors explore the many roles of lanthanides in advancing technology from their first discovery to current and prospective innovations. We encourage you to learn more and read through their informative article. Here are key takeaways, and most specifically, how lanthanides came to become a part of what Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation has to offer. 

The discovery of lanthanide luminescence has been vital to the advancement of tech since its first application in lighting displays. The actual discovery of lanthanides pre-dated their use in technology nearly two centuries earlier due to similarities between each new element. Difficulties in extraction processes furthered complications and set a substantial price point for lanthanides and their reliant technologies that has lasted to this day. Though, the contributions of lanthanide luminescence to technology and promises to further innovations involving lanthanide luminescence are priceless.

The necessity of phosphors was first realized with the invention of the first fluorescent light during the beginning of the modern era in 1927. The use of phosphors was essential to counteract the emission chromaticity of the UV-emissive metal to generate an appropriate light color. The first commercial lanthanide-based phosphor didn’t appear until 1965 when YVO₄:Eu³⁺ was used in CRT-based color TV, which utilized phosphors to complete the RBG (red-green-blue) principle. CRT displays have essentially phased out except for their use in marine and aviation applications. 

CRTs have largely been replaced by the Light-Emitting-Diodes, or LEDs, and the subsequent advancement of LED technology that led to the invention of Hybrid Organic-LEDs . LEDs produce light by electrical pumping into semiconductor materials, with the conversion of electric energy into luminescence. While lanthanides typically were used as a dopant for blue light LEDs, the use of lanthanides within OLED technology has not yet become prominent despite promising applications. 

As technology rapidly advanced, the scope of lanthanide use in progressing industries widened as well. The following paragraphs highlight several takeaway occasions.

Current Applications

Major advancements in laser technology have been made possible with lanthanides, which affects various industries and counting. 

When it comes to scintillators, lanthanide-based scintillator materials are among the highest performing materials in commercial use today due to the following four properties: light yields, emission wavelengths, energy resolution, and decay times. Scintillators are essential for image-based inspection and radiation detectors, which play a major role in our national security. Scintillator crystals make radiation and radioisotope identification and detection – or RIID – possible. Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation utilizes both LaBr₃:Ce³⁺ and CeBr₃ in their commercial RIID devices. Further advancements in scintillator crystal technology to produce commercially available personal RIID detectors for gamma and neutron detection via a single material were first based on CLYC in 2014. In 2017, BNC and several other companies began producing CLLBC, which has a much higher light yield than CLYC. 

Today, Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation has a line of custom scintillation detectors for various applications. Check out our line of custom scintillation detectors, radiation detection, at this link here. [https://www.berkeleynucleonics.com/products/custom-scintillation-detectors]

Additional uses of scintillators include well-logging within the oil and natural gas industries. These industries require especially niche demands for compact and rugged materials due to especially harsh temperatures and vibrations. In the 1980s Nal(Tl) was the main option for such technologies, but no longer is. Lanthanide-based detectors are currently in question for future development.

Lanthanides have played a role in the advancement of our society from the most pivotal technologies to even the most mundane. Yet their role in technological innovation is far from over as lanthanides remain relatively new on the time scale in terms of elemental discovery and innovation. With nearly half a century of development, lanthanide-based solar technologies demonstrate promising potential to push progress in green energy development. Yet regarding the wide scope of lanthanides in various industries, each further discovery would just be icing on the cake.