Luminescence Property of ZnWO4:Sm Nanopowders Synthesized with Wet Chemical Methods

ZnWO4:Sm powders with a Sm content of 0 to 10 at. pct have been prepared with wet chemical methods, and a variation of their luminescence property with the Sm content was studied for the first time. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the synthesized powders all were single-phase sanmartinite ZnWO4 with monoclinic structure. The doped Sm3+ ions have not caused any significant change in the host structure, indicating Sm3+ ions were incorporated in the ZnWO4 structure. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrograph indicated that powders had uniform morphology and particle size approximately 10 to 150 nm, which decreased with increasing Sm3+ content. The synthesized ZnWO4 nanopowders showed broad emissions at blue-green bands near 460 nm and red emissions at 568.4 nm, 610.4 nm, and 649.4 nm. The blue-green emission decreased with increase in Sm3+ content, and the red emission reached maximum at Sm3+ content of 5 at. pct.