Luminescence of divalent europium activated spinels synthesized by combustion and the enhanced afterglow by dysprosium incorporation

Herein we report a luminescent phenomenon of Eu2+ in the spinel MgAl2O4 and ZnAl2O4 samples which are successfully synthesized via a combustion method. The XRD shows cubic spinel structure is obtained from the prepared samples. The mean crystal sizes estimated from XRD data are 30 and 10 nm for MgAl2O4 and ZnAl2O4 respectively, and the large grain particles are the agglomeration of crystallites. The Eu2+ ions show a blue emission at around 480 nm and an afterglow phenomenon is observed after the removal of excitation. The afterglow spectrum of MgAl2O4: Eu2+, Dy3+ shows two emissions at 480 and 520 nm while only one at 480 nm is observed in ZnAl2O4: Eu2+, Dy3+. The afterglow intensity and the persisting duration can be substantially enhanced by the Dy3+ incorporation because the trapping ability of the electron traps is reinforced. This is confirmed by the TL curves of the samples.