Sonochemical Synthesis of Doped CeF3 Nanoparticles Exhibiting Room Temperature Ferromagnetism and White Light Emission

In this study we demonstrate the remarkable bi-functionalities of doped CeF3 nanoparticles. The sonochemically synthesized triple doped CeF3:Mn2+:Dy3+:Tb3+ nanoparticles exhibited room temperature ferromagnetism and also serves as a good white light emitting phosphor material. The particles were found to be mostly spherical in shape and the average size was in the range of similar to 75 nm. Room temperature ferromagnetism was observed for this triple doped sample and the saturation magnetization was found to be 4.56 x 10(-3) mu(B)/Mn atom. First-principles spin-polarized plane wave based supercell calculations, using the projector augmented wave potentials, on Mn-doped CeF3 confirmed its ferromagnetic properties. The simultaneous observation of both room temperature ferromagnetism and white light emission from doped fluoride nanoparticles reveals the complexity and uniqueness of these results.