Energy transfer processes in electrospun LaOCl:Ce/Tb nanofibres

Abstract

One-dimensional Ce3+ and Tb3+-co-doped LaOCl (LaOCl:Ce/Tb) nanofibres were prepared using a simple electrospinning technique followed by a calcination process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and photoluminescence (PL) were used to characterise the resulting samples. Through a heat-treatment process at high temperature, the as-prepared samples were well-crystallised with a tetragonal LaOCl structure. The energy transfer process from Ce3+ to Tb3+ in LaOCl:Ce3+/Tb3+ nanofibres was also studied. The emissions intensity of the LaOCl:Ce3+/Tb3+ nanofibres decreases gradually with increasing Tb3+ dopant concentration, while the emissions intensity increases with increasing Ce3+ dopant concentration. However, the fluorescence lifetimes for the 5D4 state in LaOCl:Ce/Tb nanofibres gradually increase with Tb3+ dopant concentration, whereas their fluorescence lifetimes decrease with increasing Ce3+ dopant concentration.