Luminescent properties of Ce3+-doped transparent oxyfluoride glass ceramics containing BaGdF5 nanocrystals

The transparent oxyfluoride glass ceramics containing BaGdF5 nanocrystals were prepared with a composition of 42SiO(2)-12Na(2)O-16Al(2)O(3)-24BaF(2)-4Gd(2)O(3)-2CeF(3) (mol.%) by thermal treatment technology. The typical DSC curve, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) patterns were measured. The transmission spectra and luminescent properties were investigated. The decay times of the Gd3+ ions at 312 nm excited with 275 nm for the Ce3+ ions doped glass and glass ceramics specimens and the energy transfer process between Gd3+ ions and Ce3+ ions were also studied. The XRD analysis and the TEM images confirmed the generation of the spherical BaGdF5 nanocrystals. Compared with the PG specimen, the intensity of the luminescence spectra of the glass ceramics specimens was apparently enhanced with the heat treatment temperature increasing, and a blue shift in the excitation spectra and the emission spectra of glass ceramics specimens was obviously observed. In the fluorescence decay curves of the Gd3+ ions, it could be obviously observed that the fluorescent intensity decays in the Ce3+ ions doped glass and glass ceramics specimens decreased rapidly with the increase of the heat treatment temperature. In addition, the energy transfer efficiency from Gd3+ ions to Ce3+ ions was also calculated.