Luminescence, spectroscopy, lifetimes and quenching mechanisms of excited states of uranyl and other actinide ions

A survey is made of the kinetics of luminescence decay and of quenching of the excited uranyl ion [UO22+]*. Attention is concentrated on post-1975 literature. The spectroscopy and electronic character of the excited state are explored as well as its modes of spontaneous decay in fluids, glasses, microheterogeneous media and crystalline solids. Its quenching, both physical and chemical, is examined from mechanistic viewpoints, encompassing electron-, energy-and hydrogen-atom transfer. Shorter coverage is made of the photochemistry of uranyl ion and of the application of its luminescence in analytical chemistry.