study structural and up-conversion luminescence properties of polyvinyl alcohol/caf2:erbium nanofibers for potential medical applications

objective(s): this paper describes synthesispolyvinyl alcohol/caf2:er nanofibers because of  its  photoluminescence properties.materials and methods:  first, caf2:er nanocomposite synthesized with co-precipitation method. in order to prepare polyvinyl alcohol (pva)/caf2:er nanofibers, caf2:er nanocomposites were added to the polyvinyl alcohol (pva) polymer. pva/caf2:er composite nanofibers were successfully prepared by electrospinning technique. results:  x-ray diffraction (xrd) pattern and transmission electron microscopy (tem) images indicate that the caf2:er nanocomposite was formed with cubic phase and the average crystalline size was calculated using the scherrer's equation is about 26-28 nm. scanning electron microscopy (sem) images show that the diameters of the fine nanofibers are in the range of 60-110 nm. for studying luminescence properties of the nanofibers, the samples excited with different wavelengths and show excellent up-conversion luminescence transition. conclusion: photoluminescence spectrums of the pva/caf2:er nanofibers illustrate up-conversion luminescence process. this unique property can have high potential for laser application and bio-imaging in medical technology.