Dopants concentration on the properties of various host materials by sol-gel method: Critical review

Abstract

Over the past years, the interest in doped phosphor materials has been extensively studied, due to their potential in applications such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), photonic circuits, sensors, and luminescent thin films. The most investigated phosphor materials by researchers include strontium aluminate, Zinc aluminate, magnesium aluminate, silica, and so forth. The incorporation of dopant ions in the host materials has shown a significant effect on the luminescence efficiency and the emission bands' position, which influences their kind of application. To achieve such luminescent materials, the sol-gel method has proved to be a competent method for the synthesis of doped phosphor materials due to its high purity, high homogeneity, and low-temperature processing. In this review, various sol-gel-prepared doped nanophosphor materials have been investigated. The effect of dopant concentration on the optical, morphological, and structural properties of nanophosphors were thoroughly discussed. Informative conclusions and up-to-date recommendations were drawn for future research and the possible establishment of new applications.