Optical properties of a new (1−x)Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3 + xPr1/2Na1/2TiO3 solid solution system

Abstract

The solid solutions of Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3 and Pr1/2Na1/2TiO3 materials were successfully synthesized by a simple chemical method. X-ray diffraction measurements of the Pr1/2Na1/2TiO3-modified Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3 materials indicated that Pr1/2Na1/2TiO3 was well dissolved into the host Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3 materials, resulting in the random incorporation of Pr cations in the host materials. The optical bandgap of the Pr1/2Na1/2TiO3-modified Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3 materials slightly reduced as increasing Pr1/2Na1/2TiO3 concentrations, from 3.04 eV for the pure Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3 material to 2.95 eV for the sample with 9 mol.% of Pr1/2Na1/2TiO3. We observed strong photoluminescence emission at 610 nm in the Pr1/2Na1/2TiO3-modified Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3 system, which originated from electron transitions from 3P0 to 3H6 levels of Pr3+ cations. We expected that our work would provide a simple method to combine photoluminescence properties in lead-free ferroelectric materials for smart electronic device applications.