Synthesis and photoluminescence properties of Y2O3:Eu3+ / SiO2 core/shell phosphor nanoparticles

This paper reports on the fabrication and photoluminescence properties of Y2O3:Eu3+ core particles synthesized by a Pechinitype sol-gel process and SiO2 shells deposited by the Stober method. Various factors affecting the dispersion of the nanophosphors, such as calcination temperature, solvent composition and the ratio of metal ions to citric acid and ethylene glycol were examined. The morphology and particle size of the core/shell particles were studied by scanning electron microscopy. The particle size of the phosphor cores varied from 25 to 40 nm and that of SiO2 shell was 100 to 350 nm, depending on the concentration of reactants. Photoluminescence measurements of the Y2O3:Eu3+ particles showed strong red emission peaks at 611 nm (D-5(0)-> F-7(2)) and the photoluminescence intensity of core/shell particles were more than 2 times higher than that of only core particles.