Photoluminescence properties of the Eu-doped alpha-Al2O3 microspheres

Abstract

Abstract Al 2 O 3 :Eu 3+ samples were synthesized via microwave solvothermal method and thermal decomposition of Eu 3+ doped precursors. The sample characterizations were carried out by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. XRD results indicated that Eu 3+ doped samples were most of α-Al 2 O 3 phase after being calcined at 1473 K. SEM results showed that the obtained α-Al 2 O 3 based powders via microwave solvothermal method were microspheres with an average diameter about 1.6 μm. PL spectra showed that upon excitation at 393 nm, the orange–red emission bands at the wavelength longer than 560 nm were from 5 D 0 → 7 F J ( J = 1, 2) transitions. The asymmetry ratio of ( 5 D 0 → 7 F 2 )/( 5 D 0 → 7 F 1 ) intensity is about 1 and this value suggests that Eu 3+ ions occupy the same ratio of symmetry and asymmetry sites. It is shown that the 0.7 mol% of doping concentration of Eu 3+ ions in α-Al 2 O 3 :Eu 3+ is optimum. According to Dexter’s theory, the critical distance between Eu 3+ ions for energy transfer was determined to be 18 A.