Synthesis and characterization of BaAl2O4:Eu2+ co-doped with different rare earth ions

Combustion method was used in this study to prepare BaAl2O4:Eu2+ phosphors co-doped with different trivalent rare-earths (Re3+=Dy3+, Nd3+, Gd3+, Sm3+, Ce3+, Er3+, Pr3+ and Tb3+) ions at an initiating temperature of 600 °C. The phosphors were annealed at 1000 °C for 3 h. As confirmed from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) data, both as prepared and post annealed samples crystallized in the well known hexagonal structure of BaAl2O4. All samples exhibited bluish-green emission associated with the 4f65d1→4f7 transitions of Eu2+ at ∼500 nm. Although the highest intensity was observed from Er3+ co-doping, the longest afterglow (due to trapping and detrapping of charge carriers) was observed from Nd3+ followed by Dy3+ co-doping. The traps responsible for the long afterglow were studied using thermoluminescence (TL) spectroscopy.