Key words: supercritical carbon dioxide, β-diketonates of Ag and Eu, silica aerogel, photoluminescence, silver nanoparticles, plasmon resonance
Silica aerogels with embedded b-diketonates of Ag and Eu molecules were obtained by impregnation method using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). Impregnation of aerogel with Eu(tta)3 molecules gives photoluminescence properties aerogel. Adsorption of Eu(tta)3 at silica clusters of aerogel pores leads to a strong broadening of the Stark components in the spectrum of its photoluminescence. Impregnation of aerogel with AgFOD molecules and subsequent laser irradiation, causes the formation of silver nanoparticles in a matrix of aerogel, as a result of AgFOD photolysis and subsequent diffusion atomic nanoassembly. The formation of filamentous structures of silver nanoparticles, due to the effects of self-organization caused by self-focusing and laser light channeling in as formed optical waveguide from nanoparticles. The peculiarities of the formation of Ag nanoparticles by laser photolysis of AgFOD in aerogel matrix directly in SC-CO2 medium are discussed.