Effects of Eu3+-doping and annealing on structure and fluorescence of zirconia phosphors

ZrO2:Eu3+ nanocrystals were synthesized by hydrothermal technique. Effects of Eu3+-doping and annealing on the morphology, crystal structure and fluorescence properties of the resultant ZrO2:Eu3+ nanocrystals were investigated. The morphology and crystal structure of the ZrO2:Eu3+ nanocrystals were characterized by TEM, XRD, FT-IR and Raman, respectively. The fluorescence properties were explored by PL and decay curve. The results showed that both the Eu3+ doping concentration and annealing temperature had influence on the crystal structure and fluorescence properties of ZrO2:Eu3+ nanocrystals. For the low Eu3+-doping concentration, the amount of the tetragonal phase decreased with increasing the annealing temperature. The Eu3+ ion is trivalent rare earth (RE3+) activator, which can stabilize the tetragonal as well as the cubic structure of ZrO2. The ZrO2:Eu3+ nanocrystals with tetragonal or cubic structure may find potential applications as the raw material for producing the transparent ceramics with efficient fluorescence properties.