Holmium (III) Chloride Hexahydrate

Holmium (III) Chloride hexahydrate is a water-soluble salt with the unique property of appearing yellow in natural light and bright pink under fluorescent lighting. Its distinctive visible absorption makes it useful for calibrating optical spectrophotometers. Like Holmium (III) Bromide hexahydrate, it is used in the production of Holmium-containing materials, including Holmium-doped lasers and glass colorants. Holmium’s exceptionally high magnetic permeability and saturation also make it valuable for creating magnetic materials.

For example, researchers at the University of Warsaw, Poland, used Holmium Chloride to synthesize superparamagnetic Iron Oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). The Holmium ions incorporated into the ferrite lattice enhanced the material’s magnetization, and the salt’s solubility facilitated its incorporation into the aqueous Iron Chloride solution during the co-precipitation synthesis. These magnetic nanoparticles show promise for biomedical applications such as imaging, cancer therapy, and drug delivery.

References

1. Osial, M., Rybicka, P., Pękała, M., Cichowicz, G., Cyrański, M. K., & Krysiński, P. (2018). Easy Synthesis and Characterization of Holmium-Doped SPIONs. Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland), 8(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/NANO8060430
2. Nie, J., Li, H., Fang, S., Zhou, B., Liu, Z., Chen, F., Wang, Y., & Shi, Y. (2022). Efficient red photoluminescence in holmium-doped Cs2NaInCl6 double perovskite. Cell Reports Physical Science, 3(4), 100820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2022.100820