Preparation of nanocrystalline Lu2O3.:Eu phosphor via a molten salts route

The paper reports on the course of decomposition of hydrated lutetium nitrate and lutetium chloride to Lu2O3 in the eutectic mixture of NaNO2 and KNO2. It was shown that a crystallographically pure phase of the cubic Lu2O3 is formed at temperature as low as 250degreesC. IR spectra revealed that the recovered powder contains some OH-contamination, however. The powders are characterized by crystallites sizes in the range of 18-30 nm in average. Emission and excitation spectra of Eu-doped powders show characteristic features for Eu3+ ion in an oxide host, which indicates that the procedure is appropriate for making activated nanoparticulate oxide phosphors. Most profound emission appears around 611 nm and the luminescence from the powder made starting with Lu(NO3)3 was noticeably higher compared to the product obtained from LuCl3. The excitation spectrum of Eu3+ emission at 611 nm contains a band related to the fundamental absorption of the lutetia host lattice, which indicates an existence of the host-to-activator energy transfer. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.