Structure and red emissions of Eu3+-doped hydrocalumite prepared in ethanol/water media

Abstract

Eu3+-doped hydrocalumites (Eu3+-doped CaAl-LDH) were prepared in an ethanol/water media. Various techniques, including inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and fluorescent spectra (FL), etc., were employed to study the structure, composition, and fluorescence of samples. Compositional analyses reveal that the contents of all the elements calculated from the chemical formula are close to that of the actual found from measurement. XRD results suggest that the samples with different molar ratios of Ca2+/(Al3++Eu3+) present typical layered structure. Moreover, all the samples exhibit monoclinic structure. Fluorescent spectra show strong red emissions ascribed to 5D0→7FJ (J = 1, 2) transitions of Eu3+ ions for all the Eu3+-doped hydrocalumites, revealing that the hydrocalumite is favorable for the emission of Eu3+. The Eu3+-doped hydrocalumite may be a latent fluorescent material applied in biological or medical fields in consideration of the biocompatibility of Ca2+ ions and fluorescent property of Eu3+ ions.