Abstract
Rare earth ions doped alkaline metal zirconium phosphors have recently received significant attention in several applications including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based solid-state lighting, solar panels, barcode readers and fluorescent labels focusing on the ultraviolet (UV) to visible (Vis) spectrum photoluminescence (PL) properties. Near-infrared (NIR) PL properties of rare earth ions doped magnesium zirconium phosphate (MZP) nanophosphors characteristics have not been investigated and considered as good candidates for optical amplifier and photonics applications. In this study, erbium doped magnesium zirconium phosphate (Er3+doped MgZr4(PO4)6) nanophosphors containing 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 mol% Er3+ were synthesised using a sol–gel technique. The samples prepared were calcined at 900 °C. Nanopowders of the samples were examined by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy to determine the surface morphology, particle size, crystallographic phase, crystalline structure, and lattice strain. Increasing in the Er3+-ion concentrations do not have significant influence on the crystallite size, with an average crystallite size range from ∼ 28 nm to 32 nm. However, the lattice strain parameter of the Er3+ doped MZP samples decreased slightly as compared to the pure undoped MgZr4(PO4)6. The Er3+dopant was found to influence the photoluminescence properties measured at room temperature under a 980 nm excitation source. Systematic analysis revealed the presence of broad emission band corresponding to the 4I13/2→4I15/2transition. The results showed that 0.5 mol% Er3+doped sample exhibits a full width half maximum (FWHM) value of 38 nm with a long photoluminescence lifetime of 5.47 ms. The results obtained clearly demonstrates that 0.5 mol% Er3+ doped MgZr4(PO4)6 nanophosphors has a huge potential for integrated photonic applications such as lighting, biosensing, compact waveguide amplifiers, and lasers with emission properties in the IR region.
Highlights
In recent years, several inorganic nanophosphor materials have been investigated extensively as host materials for luminescent rare earth ions and becoming attractive for photonic devices such as light-emitting di odes, solar panels, biosensors, quantum storage, and fibre optic communication [1,2,3,4]
Er3+-ions doped magnesium zirconium phosphate (MZP) nanophosphors synthesised were studied by using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (HR-TEM)
The existence of numerous discrete spots line-up or randomness of the diffraction patterns forming around the central spot in the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern suggests the undoped MZP0 is crystalline
Summary
Several inorganic nanophosphor materials have been investigated extensively as host materials for luminescent rare earth ions and becoming attractive for photonic devices such as light-emitting di odes, solar panels, biosensors, quantum storage, and fibre optic communication [1,2,3,4]. Magnesium zirconium ortho phosphate (MZP) nanophosphor having a NASICON type crystal structure has been found to be an appropriate host material for rare earth ions as well as for application as microwave dielectric materials [14,15] and as solid electrolyte in high temperature electrochemical sensor in non-ferrous scrap metal refining and virgin metal alloying operations [16,17,18] This host crystal is suitable for exploiting photoluminescence properties of the Er3+ - ion dopant due to its prop erties such as a high phonon energy of 1030 cm− 1, high refractive index (MgO = 1.735, ZrO2 = 2.180–2.670, and PO4 = 1.603), high trans mittance at visible-NIR wavelength, and thermal stability [13]. The in fluence of lattice strains on the NIR PL emission and lifetime at 1533 nm (4I13/2 →4I15/2 transition) of the MZP incorporated with different con centrations of Er3+ ions were investigated, respectively
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