Structural, spectroscopic, luminescence and magnetic properties of a novel far-red emitting phosphor Er, Mn doped ZrTe3O8

Abstract

Polycrystalline ZrTe3O8:2%Er, 3%Mn was prepared by the solid-state reaction technique. The formation of single-phase material was determined by X-ray diffraction studies and found to be a cubic phase at room temperature. The structure can be described by two types of polyhedrons, namely disphonoids (TeO4E with E = electronic lone pair of Te4+) and octahedrons of ZrO6. The bridges Te-O1-Te and Te-O2-Zr ensured the crystal structure cohesion. Both kinds of polyhedron oxygen were coordinated along the [0 1 0] mixed chain, linked to a pure chain of tellurium through O1 in order to form a two-dimensional network and then a unit cell with a three-dimensional network. The Raman spectrum was dominated by a strong band at 841 cm-1corresponding to Te-O2-Zr bridges asymmetric stretching vibration. Consequently, the Te-O2 and Zr (Mn)O2 bonds are chemically inequivalent and the ZrO2Te bridges are chemically asymmetric. The magnetic results reveal the appearance of a weak ferromagnetic behavior at low temperature.The emission properties of the ZrTe3O8:2%Er, 3%Mn prepared at relatively high temperature examined at 490 nm excitation led to an appearance of an important emission in the visible and near-infrared domains due to homogeneously occupied Er3+ ions in the host lattice. Therefore, this kind of phosphors may be a meaningful reference for W-LEDs application.