Polymer complex solution synthesis of (YxGd1−x)2O3:Eu3+ nanopowders

Yttrium–gadolinium–europium oxide phosphors are regarded promising for many important optical applications, for example in computed tomography medical imaging and plasma displays. In this work, we investigated procedure for (YxGd1−x)2O3:Eu3+ (x =  0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1) nanopowder synthesis using polymer complex solution method (PCS) based on polyethylene glycol fuel (PEG). Structural and emission properties of nanopowders are investigated by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and photoluminescence measurements. We obtained particles of about 40 nm having excellent structural ordering in cubic bixbyte type of structure – space group Ia3 for all mixed oxide compositions. Luminescence emission measurements exposed characteristic transition of the trivalent europium ion incorporated into insulating host. 5D1 and 5D0 decay time values are measured to obtain information on different kinetic processes occurring for these two emitting levels.