Intentional anion incorporation to rationally modulate the size, shape and optical properties of lanthanide oxide nanocrystals.

Incorporating impure foreign atoms or ions has been extensively utilized in materials science for generating hybrid materials with desirable properties and functions. Despite most materials consisting of cations and anions, conventional routes only focus on incorporating cations. In this work, we proposed an intentional impure anion incorporation strategy as a facile and straightforward route to adjust the properties of yielded nanocrystals. Via incorporating diverse anions, the size, morphology, uniformity and optical properties of lanthanide oxide nanocrystals could be rationally tuned. Furthermore, the obtained nanocrystals could further serve as a bioprobe for imaging deep tissue.