Facile and rapid preparation of Ln3+ (Ln = Eu, Tb) doped lanthanum pyrazine-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxylate submicroparticles and their tunable luminescence properties

• Lanthanum pyrazine-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxylate (La-PZTC) submicroparticles were synthesized via a facile and rapid method.
• A plausible mechanism responsible for the formation of submicroparticles is given.
• The crystal structure of the samples was investigated.
• Color-tunable luminescence properties of the Eu3+ and Tb3+ codoped La-PZTC samples are observed.

Novel lanthanum pyrazine-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxylate (La-PZTC) submicroparticles have been synthesized through direct precipitation method without using any surfactant or template. The crystal structure of the La-PZTC can be speculated to monoclinic system, P2(1)/c space group based on Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, Thermogravimetric analysis and elemental analysis. Time-dependent experiment was performed to explore temporal morphological evolution, indicating the nucleation and growth of the products take place in a very short time. The luminescent properties of the as-obtained lanthanum pyrazine-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxylate samples have been discussed in detail. Under UV excitation, Eu3+ or Tb3+ doped La-PZTC samples exhibit strong red and green emission, corresponding to the characteristic lines of Eu3+ or Tb3+, respectively. Interestingly, the luminescence color of phosphors can be fine-tuned from green to green-yellow, yellow, and red-orange by simply adjusting the concentrations of Eu3+ and Tb3+ ions, making the material has potential applications in building mini-optoelectronic devices and color display fields.

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