If you look at the periodic table, and focus on the last few elements, you will discover the lanthanide and actinide elements. We specialize in using lanthanides in designing and making novel optical materials. The lanthanide element we chose for this project is Europium (Eu).
Eu has an interesting feature - it can either lose 2 or 3 electrons, to become a positively charged ion. Whether it loses 2 or 3 electrons depends upon the chemical environment we choose for the Eu atom. Typically stabilizing Eu in the +2 state is hard, since it would rather lose all 3 of its outermost electronics. Hence in order to arrest Eu in its +2 state, we often require very reducing atmospheres (i.e atmospheres wherein the Eu cannot get rid of all 3 of its electrons). This is quite a challenge. However very recently, we devised a simple process by means of which we succeeded in stabilizing Eu in its 2+ state, using an open-air process!
The general idea is to use a variant of what happens in the internal combustion engine of your two/four wheeler. If the amount of air available for combustion is insufficient for the fuel, you are likely to create a very reducing environment (this is wel known). This general idea is used to achieve a single step, rapid process (~5-10 minutes) for stabilization of Eu in its 2+ state. In doing so, we got a very good blue light emitting material (Eu2+ in CaAl2O4); this material is both cheap and robust. Please do read the paper cited here, to learn more.
Ref: Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 589, 596–603 (2014)
