Synthesis and luminescence behavior of Eu3+-doped CaF2 nanoparticles

Luminescent Ca1−xF2+x:Eux nanoparticles were synthesized by a chemical co-precipitation method in an ethanol solution. The Ca1−xF2+x:Eux nanoparticles exhibit a sphere-like morphology with particle diameter of about 15-20 nm. With increasing concentration of Eu3+ ion the intensity of XRD diffraction peaks decreased significantly and full width at half-maximum of the peaks increased gradually, which indicated that more Eu3+ ions resulted in the increase of structural defects. The emission spectrum of Ca1−xF2+x:Eux nanoparticles consisted of a few narrow, sharp lines corresponding to Eu3+ ions. The luminescence intensity of Ca1−xF2+x:Eux nanoparticles increased with increasing concentration of Eu3+ ion and reached a maximum at approximately 15 mol%.