Preparation and luminescent properties of 1D Lu2O2S:Eu3+ nanorods

• Monodisperse and uniform Lu2O2S:Eu3+ nanorods were prepared by solvothermal method.
• Annealing temperature affects luminescence of the nanorods significantly.
• The obtained 1D Lu2O2S:Eu3+ nanorods exhibit excellent red-luminescent properties.

Highly crystalline and uniform Lu2O2S:Eu3+ nanorods have been successfully synthesized through a facile solvothermal method followed by a subsequent calcination process for the first time. X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and photoluminescence (PL) spectrum were utilized to characterize the samples. X-ray diffraction results demonstrate that all the diffraction peaks of the samples annealed at 600 °C can be well indexed to the pure hexagonal phase of Lu2O2S. From SEM and TEM it can be seen that Lu2O2S:Eu3+ nanorods are uniform rod-like nanostructures with a mean diameter of 22 nm and length of 500 nm. The effect of annealing temperature on the crystallinity and luminescent properties was investigated in detail. Furthermore, the obtained 1D Lu2O2S:Eu3+ nanorods exhibit strong red (Eu3+, 5D0 → 7F2) luminescence under ultraviolet (UV) excitation.