Facile room-temperature coprecipitation of uniform barium chlorapatite nanoassemblies as a host photoluminescent material

Abstract

As an emerging host phosphor material, barium chlorapatite (Ba5(PO4)3Cl), is attracting growing attention. However, rare earth-doped Ba5(PO4)3Cl phosphors have mainly been obtained via high temperature-based, energy-consuming techniques. In this contribution, we developed a straightforward, facile room-temperature coprecipitation method in the presence of a specific amount of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt that provided Ba5(PO4)3Cl nanoparticles self-assembled to construct uniform Ba5(PO4)3Cl nanoassemblies (diameter: 80–120nm) as well as rare earth Tb3+-doped Ba5(PO4)3Cl:xTb3+ nanophosphors. The nanoassemblies were transparent within the ultraviolet and visible spectral range. The Ba5(PO4)3Cl:xTb3+ nanophosphors exhibited four emission peaks under 228-nm excitation, and the optimal doping amount of Tb3+ was 4.0%. In contrast to traditional energy-consuming, high-temperature techniques, the facile room-temperature coprecipitation method developed here represents an attractive alternative route to obtain uniform Ba5(PO4)3Cl nanoassemblies and Ba5(PO4)3Cl:xTb3+ nanophosphors that are candidate luminescent hosts.