Preparation and characterization of thulium doped yttrium oxide (Tm:Y2O3) powders

In the presented work 2 at% thulium doped yttrium oxide precursor powders were synthesized by the co-precipitation method using ammonium bicarbonate as a precipitation agent. The main aim of this work was to investigate the influence of co-precipitation parameters such as the process temperature (25 degrees C-70 degrees C) and molar concentration of reagents on the morphology and luminescence properties of Tm:Y2O3. The lowest average particle size of about 20 nm and the highest value of the specific surface of 55.2 m(2)/g were obtained for powder co-precipitated at a temperature of 70 degrees C at a molar concentration of 0.1 M for thulium and yttrium nitrate. The emission spectra of the outcome powders were measured and compared and fluorescence dynamics behavior was presented and discussed. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.