Spectroscopic investigations on Se/RE doped sol gel derived silica matrices

Abstract

Selenium and rare earth ions co-doped inorganic luminescence silica matrices are synthesized through sol gel route. The incorporation of cubic Se quantum dots within the porous silica frame is confirmed from TEM analysis. The successful entrapment of green as well as blue color emitters within the silica frame generates evident luminescence bands in the visible region. Obtained Se/Tb3+ ions doped silica glasses give characteristic sharp emission peaks of terbium ions at 488 nm, 543 nm, 584 nm, 619 nm wavelength under UV excitations. A broad blue emission band from selenium nanodots centered at 421 nm wavelength is observed in the emission spectrum. Colorimetric studies are done with the aid of 1931 chromaticity diagram. CIE indices of the co-doped glasses are found to lie in between the CIE indices of selenium doped silica glasses (0.18, 0.21) and terbium doped silica glasses (0.28, 0.46). For a fixed concentration of Se and terbium in silica glasses, tunable luminescence without shift in peak wavelength is observed under the excitation wavelength of 340 nm to 380 nm. Varying blue to green luminescence intensity ratio (B/G) with the excitation wavelength reveals the possibility of tunable emission of the glassy matrix for their applicability in solid lighting systems.