Russian scientists have proposed a “color thermometer”-powder

by time news

It is created from compounds of metals and organic molecules that change the color of the glow

A substance that, like a chameleon, changes the color of the glow depending on temperature, was created by Russian scientists together with colleagues from France and Portugal. It can be useful for measuring the temperature outside the space station.

Compounds consisting of lanthanide ions (elements with atomic numbers from 57 to 71 in the periodic table of D. I. Mendeleev) and various organic molecules have different practically useful properties and are widely used in modern technology and technology.

For example, they are used in the production of polymers as catalysts, for the manufacture of luminescent materials, in microelectronics, and in many other areas.

When creating luminescent materials, organic molecules play a key role, since they allow the compound to absorb ultraviolet radiation tens of thousands of times more efficiently and convert the resulting energy into a luminescent glow.

Researchers from the A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FIAN), Moscow State University and the G. A. Razuvaev Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Organometallic Chemistry, in cooperation with Western colleagues, have developed a new efficient luminescent material for measuring temperatures in hard-to-reach places.







We are talking about a series of substances consisting of the metal ions of europium, terbium and dysprosium, as well as specially selected organic molecules.

The most interesting phenomenon was discovered in the study of complexes containing two ions at once – terbium and europium. It turned out that upon cooling, the color of the luminescence changes from red to green, and the temperature can be determined quite accurately from the ratio of the intensity of the lines in the spectrum. The new material makes it possible to accurately determine the surface temperature in a very low range: from 130 to 220 kelvin, that is, from -143 to -53 degrees Celsius. The advantage of this method is that a small amount of substance can be used for measurement, even one small particle. It can be placed on the surface and the temperature can be determined optically by changing the spectrum of the luminescent glow. Green glow corresponds to low temperatures, red high.

Such a “color thermometer” can be used for non-contact temperature determination when the use of standard sensors is impossible for some reason, or where human access is limited. For example, on the outside of the space station. To do this, it is enough to apply the mixture to the surface, illuminate with ultraviolet light and use a spectrometer to very accurately determine the temperature from the spectrum of the emitted glow.

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