Combinatorial screening of Eu3+ doped TiO2–Y2O3–Gd2O3 ternary system at soft UV excitation

The main objective of the present investigation was to develop new oxide red phosphors, which should be efficient in terms of the luminescence under soft ultra-violet excitation. In this regard, a solution combinatorial chemistry (combi-chem) technique was employed to screen the Eu3+ doped TiO2–Y2O3–Gd2O3 ternary system. Several luminance libraries were obtained at various temperatures and ensuing systematic phase identifications were achieved in this ternary system. Y2O3 and Gd2O3 played an important role in enhancing the Eu3+ emission and that TiO2 promoted the Eu3+ excitation at the 400 nm excitation. Even though our best sample showed 4.5 times as high luminance as the commercially available Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphor, the luminance level still needs an improvement.