Definition
The lanthanoids (often designated Ln) are the 15 elements with atomic numbers 57 (lanthanum) to 71 (lutetium).
Colors, Electron Configurations, and Energy Levels
Color
Most of the lanthanoid ions exhibit rather pale characteristic colors when introduced into transparent solids or in water solutions, the most important being the Ln3+ state (Table 1). These colors arise from electronic transitions between the ionic ground state and energy levels derived from 4f electron configurations lying between 1.77 and 3.10 eV above it, giving absorption maxima in the visible wavelength range (700–400 nm). Of more practical importance is color produced when ions excited to higher energy levels fall back to these 4f-derived levels and thence to the ground state, giving rise to characteristic visible emission spectra, which are used in many applications including fluorescent printing inks used as...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Tilley, R.J.D.: Chapter 7. In: Colour and the Optical Properties of Materials, 2nd edn. Wiley, Chichester (2011)
Nassau, K.: Chapter 4. In: The Physics and Chemistry of Colour, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York (2001)
Huang, C.-H. (ed.): Rare Earth Coordination Chemistry. Wiley, Singapore (2010)
Linganna, K., Jayasankar, C.K.: Luminescence Spectroscopy of the Lanthanides, Scholars Press (2013)
Häninen, P., Härmä, H. (eds.): Lanthanide Luminescence. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Cotton, S.: Lanthanide and Actinide Chemistry. Wiley, Chichester (2006)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Tilley, R.J.D. (2016). Lanthanoid Ion Color. In: Luo, M.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8071-7_257
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8071-7_257
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-8070-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-8071-7
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics