Sensing Materials: Lanthanide Materials

Lanthanide materials exhibit an extensive application due to their characteristic optical and magnetic properties. Their luminescence properties that arise from either f-f- or f-d transitions, are strongly dependent on the lanthanide chemical environment and external stimuli like temperature and pressure variations. In this article, we bring a panorama on the application of lanthanide materials in temperature, pressure, and chemical sensing. Temperature sensing is essential for developing innovative technologies in diverse fields and the non-contact and non-invasive features of luminescent nanothermometers enable measurements with high temperature and spatial resolutions, fast detection, and suitability to biological samples. For chemical sensing, the development of luminescent Lanthanide Molecular Organic Frameworks (Ln-MOFs) has been widely exploited since they present rapid response and reusability. Besides, controlling the porous size, framework flexibility, and appropriate sites for chemical interactions that affect the Ln3 + luminescence, Ln-MOF can be tuned selectively and sensitively according to the molecular target. Finally, we show how lanthanide-based energy storage materials can detect stress and pressure modifications with memory of past pressure events.