Weakly agglomerated NANO/MICRO-particles of Gd2O3:Tb3+: Structure, luminescence and thermometry

Gadolinium oxide nanostructures have been actively studied as multimodal materials for both technical applications and biomedical research. Doping of this oxide structure with a given concentration of chosen rare earth ions allows one to obtain predefined optical properties. Weakly agglomerated nanoscale and submicron Gd2O3: Tb3+ particles were synthesized by a modified Pechini method in a single chemical process. The nanoscale fraction was transferred into aqueous solution without the addition of surfactant. Zeta potential of this solution was found to be about -17 (+/- 1) mV. The crystal structure of cubic gadolinium oxide is confirmed for the large and small size fraction. The optimal concentration of terbium ions, at which the highest luminescence is observed, was 1.2 at.%. The concentration quenching mechanism for Tb3+-doped Gd2O3 samples was determined as a dipole-quadrupole energy migration with subsequent quenching on impurities. The luminescence properties of sub-micron and nanoparticles, including lifetimes, were found to be almost identical. The effect of temperature on both steady-state and kinetic luminescent properties was studied. Gd2O3:Tb3+ phosphors were found to be promising as lifetime-based luminescent thermometers.