A Facile Co-Precipitation Synthesis and Luminescence Properties of Red-Emitting La2O2SO4: x%Eu3+ Nanophosphors

Abstract

A series of Eu3+ ions activated La2O2SO4 nanophosphors had been prepared successfully by a facial co-precipitation route followed by a subsequent calcination treatment. The commercial Eu2O3, La2O3, HNO3, (NH4)2SO4 and NH3·H2O were used as the raw materials. The structural analyses and luminescence properties of as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. Pure La2O2SO4 quasi-sphere nanoparticles with an average diameter of 40 nm were successfully prepared by calcining the precursor at 800 °C for 2 h in air. PL results reveal that the strongest red emission peak is centred at 617 nm upon 393 nm light excitation, corresponding to the 5D0→7F2 transition of Eu3+ ions. Its quenching concentration is 9 mol%, which can be attributed to the exchange interaction among Eu3+ ions and the corresponding decay process shows a double exponential decay behavior, with 0.310 μs for t1 and 1.419 μs for t2.