Synthesis and Properties of SrMoO4 Phosphors Doped with Various Rare Earth Ions for Anti-Counterfeiting Applications

Abstract

SrMoO4:RE3+ (RE=Dy, Sm, Tb, Eu, Dy/Sm) phosphors are prepared by co-precipitation method. The effects of the type and the molar ratio of activator ions on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of the phosphor particles are investigated. X-ray diffraction data reveal that all the phosphors have a tetragonal system with a main (112) diffraction peak. The emission spectra of the SrMoO4 phosphors doped with several activator ions indicate different multicolor emissions: strong yellow-emitting light at 573 nm for Dy3+, red light at 643 nm for Sm3+, green light at 545 nm for Tb3+, and reddish orange light at 614 nm for Eu3+ activator ions. The Dy3+ singly-doped SrMoO4 phosphor shows two dominant emission peaks at 479 and 573 nm corresponding to the 4F9/2→6H15/2 magnetic dipole transition and 4F9/2→6H13/2 electric dipole transition, respectively. For Dy3+ and Sm3+ doubly-doped SrMoO4 phosphors, two kinds of emission peaks are observed. The two emission peaks at 479 and 573 nm are attributed to 4F9/2→6H15/2 and 4F9/2→6H13/2 transitions of Dy3+ and two emission bands centered at 599 and 643 nm are ascribed to 4G5/2→6H7/2 and 4G5/2→6H9/2 transitions of Sm3+. As the concentration of Sm3+ increases from 1 to 5 mol%, the intensities of the emission bands of Dy3+ gradually decrease; those of Sm3+ slowly increase and reach maxima at 5 mol% of Sm3+ ions, and then rapidly decrease with increasing molar ratio of Sm3+ ions due to the concentration quenching effect. Fluorescent security inks based on as-prepared phosphors are synthesized and designed to demonstrate an anticounterfeiting application.