Temperature luminescence properties of Eu3+-doped Gd2O3 phosphors

Rare earth (RE) oxides are important hosts for the luminescence of RE activators with numerous practical applications in light-emitting devices. In this work, we investigated the possibility for Gd2O3: Eu3+ usage in phosphor thermometry by observing the temperature changes of trivalent europium ion transitions from the D-5(0) and D-5(1) energy levels to the ground-state levels. A set of three samples of Eu3+-doped Gd2O3 (1, 5 and 10 at.% Eu3+) was produced via combustion synthesis. The sample crystalline structure is confirmed by XRD measurements. The intensity ratio of the two emission lines was studied as a function of temperature in the temperature range 300-800 K, and lifetime was measured in the interval 10-800 K. All three Gd2O3: Eu3+ samples proved to have good potential for the development of thermographic phosphors.