Tunable Photoluminescence across the Visible Spectrum and Photocatalytic Activity of Mixed-Valence Rhenium Oxide Nanoparticles

Materials exhibiting excitation-wavelength-dependent photoluminescence, PL, are useful in a range of biomedical and optoelectronic applications. This paper describes a nanoparticulate material whose PL is tunable across the entire visible range and is achieved without adjusting particle size, any postsynthetic doping, or surface modification. A straightforward thermal decomposition of rhenium (VII) oxide precursor yields nanoparticles that comprise Re atoms at different oxidation states. Studies of time-resolved emission spectra and DFT calculations both indicate that tunable PL of such mixed-valence particles originates from the presence of multiple emissive states that become "active" at different excitation wavelengths. In addition, the nanoparticles exhibit photocatalytic activity that, under visible-light irradiation, is superior to that of TiO2 nanomaterials.