Nanostructured Y2O3 Particles Doped with Europium Synthesized by Aerosol Route

Abstract

Y2O3 doped with europium is a well known red phosphor material employed in modern high-resolution display devices such as plasma display panels (PDP) and field emission displays (FED). The incorporation of gadolinium in the yttria matrix may significantly contribute to the luminescent properties and x-ray absorption coefficient thus increasing the field of application in optoelectronic devices such as ceramic scintillators for computed tomography. In this work, the nanostructured particles of Y 2 O 3 doped with Eu 3+ were processed through the spray pyrolysis method. Synthesis was carried out with an ultrasonic aerosol device operating at 1.3 MHz in air atmosphere connected with a triple-zone tubular flow reactor (473-973-1173K). Particles were submitted t o post- thermal treatments at temperatures among 1273 and 1 573K for 12 hours in order to increase the crystallinity and uniform distribution of doped centers. Morphology, structure, crystallinity and chemical characteristics were studied by XRD, SEM-EDS, TEM-HRTEM and SAED. The particles obtained are spherical, having narrow size distributions, high compositional homogeneity and are in unagglomerated state. The effects of synthesis parameters were followed and discussed in terms of particle structure and morphology.