Structural and photophysical investigations of bright yellow emitting Dy: ZnAl2O4 nanophosphor

ZnAl2O4:Dy nanophosphors were synthesized using co-precipitation and hydrothermal methods. Various structural and optical characterizations were made using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, UV-Visible absorption, Infrared absorption, photoluminescence and time resolved luminescence techniques. Dy3+ doped samples showed yellow dominating multicolour emission on excitation with 348 nm. We have estimated J-O parameters and other various radiative parameters like quantum efficiency, Stimulated emission cross-section etc. Considerable effect of SiO2 was noticed on crystalline size and emission intensity of Dy ions. A comparison between the samples synthesized by different methods, and Dy concentration has been made and detail report presented in the article. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.