Materials Chemistry and Physics 130 (2011) 175–178
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Materials Chemistry and Physics
j ourna l ho me pag e: www.elsevier.com/locate/matchemphys
Thermoluminescence studies of solution combustion synthesized Y
2
O
3
:Nd
3+
nanophosphor
J.R. Jayaramaiah
a,b
, B.N. Lakshminarasappa
a,∗
, B.M. Nagabhushana
c
a
Department of Physics, Bangalore University, Bangalore 560 056, India
b
Department of Physics, Government First Grade College, Hangal 581 104, India
c
Department of Chemistry, M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore 560 054, India
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 19 February 2011
Received in revised form 4 June 2011
Accepted 16 June 2011
PACS:
79.60.Jv
07.78.+S
77.84.Bw
78.47.jd
Keywords:
Nanostructures
Electron microscopy
Oxides
Luminescence
a b s t r a c t
Thermoluminescence (TL) of neodymium doped yttrium oxide (Y
2
O
3
:Nd
3+
) nanocrystalline phosphors,
synthesized by solution combustion route, using disodium ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA-Na
2
)
as fuel, was studied at low temperature (<350
◦
C). Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern of Y
2
O
3
:Nd
3+
revealed the cubic crystalline phase and the average crystallites sizes were found to be in the range of
18–24 nm. The morphology of the samples was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and was
foamy and fluffy in nature. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed prominent absorp-
tion with peaks at 3400, 1435, 875 and 565 cm
-1
. Optical absorption studies showed that the energy gap
of the synthesized sample was found to be 5 eV. Thermoluminescence of -irradiated Y
2
O
3
:Nd
3+
showed
two well resolved TL glows with peaks at 587 and 628 K and they were analyzed by glow curve shape
method and the activation energies were found to be 1.83 eV and 2.2 eV respectively.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Nanoparticles have become a research focus in terms of both
their fundamental and technological importance, especially in the
case of luminescent materials because of a quantum confinement
effect, which leads to novel optoelectronic properties. It was found
that the emission lifetime and luminescence quantum efficiency
depends strongly on the nanosize [1–4].
‘Solution combustion’ is yet another wet-chemical method,
which does not require further calcinations and repeated heating.
It is an exothermic reaction and occurs with the evolution of heat
and light. Such a high temperature leads to growth of nanocrys-
talline material. In any solution combustion, fuel and oxidizer are
required and when this mixture is ignited, combustion takes place.
For the synthesis of oxides, metal nitrates are used as oxidizer and
hydrazine based compounds are employed as fuels [5,6].
Rare earth sesquioxides (RE
2
O
3
) have been of great scientific
and technological interest for many years because of their attractive
physical and chemical properties. Actually, they are excellent host
materials for lasers, with high thermal stability [7–9].
∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9448116281; fax: +91 80 23219295.
E-mail address: bnlnarasappa@rediffmail.com (B.N. Lakshminarasappa).
Yttrium oxide (Y
2
O
3
) for example is an interesting host mate-
rial for high power laser applications with a very high melting point
of ∼2430
◦
C, a cubic structure of the space group Ia
3
and a lattice
constant of 10.6041
˚
A [10,11]. Moreover, Y
2
O
3
:Nd
3+
sesquioxide
is a good phosphor used as light emitting devices and its lumi-
nescent properties were studied [12]. The principal roles for NIR
light emission in heavily doped Nd
3+
ions in oxide glasses play
phonon-relaxation mechanisms [13]. Numerous studies have been
carried out on the synthesis and properties of rare earth doped
Y
2
O
3
[14–17]. In the present work, we report the TL properties
of -irradiated nanocrystalline Y
2
O
3
:Nd
3+
, synthesized by self-
propagating low-temperature solution combustion process using
EDTA-Na
2
as a fuel.
2. Experimental
Nanophosphor Y2O3:Nd
3+
(Y1.99Nd0.01O3) was prepared by solution combustion
synthesis. Yttrium oxide (99.99%, Sd. Fine Chem), neodymium oxide (99.99%), nitric
acid and EDTA-Na2 were used as starting raw materials to prepare Y2O3:Nd
3+
. Sto-
ichiometric amounts of Y2O3 and Nd2O3 were converted into nitrate by dissolving
in 1:1 nitric acid and excess nitric acid was removed by evaporation on a sand bath.
The stoichiometric amount of EDTA-Na2 was dissolved in double distilled water,
the solution was poured in to the crystalline dish containing yttrium nitrate doped
with Nd, and the stoichiometric solution was stirred well to ensure homogene-
ity. The dish with solution was placed in a muffle furnace whose temperature was
maintained at <350
◦
C. The reaction mixture underwent thermal dehydration and
ignited at one spot with liberation of gaseous products such as oxides of nitrogen and
0254-0584/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matchemphys.2011.06.025