Hydrothermal synthesis, characterization, and investigation of optical properties of Sb3+-doped lithium silicates nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract The hydrothermal synthesis and optical properties of undoped and Sb3+-doped lithium metasilicate and lithium disilicate nanomaterials were investigated. The microstructures and morphologies of the synthesized Li2−2x Sb2x SiO3 and Li2−2x Sb2x Si2O5 nanoparticles were studied with powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques, respectively. The synthesized undoped and doped lithium metasilicate and lithium disilicate nanomaterials, respectively, are isostructural with the standard bulk Li2SiO3 (space group Cmc21) and Li2Si2O5 (space group Ccc2) materials. The electronic absorption and photoluminescence spectra of the synthesized materials are studied. The measured optical properties show dependence on the dopant amounts in the structure.