Surfactant-assisted synthesis and luminescent properties of Gd2O3:Eu3+ core-shell microspheres

Homogeneous and monodisperse Gd2O3:Eu3+ core-shell mirospheres have been successfully synthesized via a solvothermal method with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as surfactant, followed by a subsequent calcination process. The as-prepared products were characterized by various methods, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS), trans-mission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and photoluminescence spectra (PL). The results show that the obtained Gd2O3:Eu3+ mirospheres with a core-shell structure are uniform in size and distribution, and they have diameters of similar to 350 nm, the core diameters of similar to 150 nm, and the shell thicknesses of similar to 45 nm. Under ultraviolet (UV) excitation, the corresponding Gd2O3:Eu3+ products exhibit strong red emission corresponding to the D-5(0)-F-7(2) transition of the Eu3+ ions, which might find potential applications in the fields such as light-emitting phosphors, advanced flat panel displays, or biological labeling. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.