Surfactant-free tantalum oxide nanoparticles: synthesis, colloidal properties, and application as a contrast agent for computed tomography.

With the growing interest of the medical industry in biocompatible nanoparticles (NPs), the current synthetic methods should be adapted to appropriate demands (toxicity, scalability, etc.). Most applications require colloidal systems to be stable not only in water but also in vivo, which represents a major challenge.

Upconversion metal (Zr, Hf, and Ta) oxide aerogels.

A major obstacle in developing upconversion aerogels is the incompatibility of the highly-developed porosity and the crystal structure required for converting light to a shorter wavelength. We propose a novel method for creating a sol-gel procedure for synthesizing metal (Zr, Hf, and Ta) oxide upconverison aerogels uniformly doped with Er3+ and Yb3+ by precisely adjusting the calcination conditions.