In situ sol–gel synthesis and luminescence of Y xGd 2− xO 3:Eu 3+ nanophosphors by assembling hybrid polymeric precursors

Abstract

Using rare earth coordination polymers with salicylic acid and rare earth nitrates as precursors for the luminescent species Y x Gd 2− x O 3:Eu 3+, composed with the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as dispersing media, nanophosphors of Y x Gd 2− x O 3:Eu 3+ with different ratio of Y and Gd were synthesized, among x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.6, 1.8 for rare earth nitrate precursors and x = 0.4, 1.0, 1.6 for rare earth salicylate coordination polymer precursors, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM) show that these materials have the nanometer size of 20–70 nm. These nanometer materials exhibit strong emission at 612 nm and a blue shift of 6 nm compared with the bulk Y 2O 3:Eu 3+ phosphors.