Effects of scandium substitution on the crystal structure and luminescence properties of LuBO3: Ce3+

The calcite phase of LuBO3 and ScBO3 polycrystalline powders were synthesized by solid state reaction method, and the Lu1−xScxBO3:Ce (x=0.2, 0.5, 0.7) single crystals were grown by the Czochralski method. A large composition deviation between the initial polycrystalline powders and final single crystal was confirmed by electron probe micro-analysis. Raman spectroscopy revealed that moderate lattice disorder was induced by scandium substitution. However, based on the single crystal X-ray study, we finally concluded that the crystal structure of lutetium scandium orthoborate still crystallized in the rhombohedral system belonging to R  3−c. Furthermore, the relationship between the energies of the five 5d levels of Ce3+ and the crystalline environment was revealed. The total redshift, total crystal field splitting, and centroid shift of Lu1−xScxBO3:Ce3+ were calculated based on their VUV excitation spectra. The variations trend of these observed spectroscopic parameters was in accordance with the predicted ones.

Graphical abstractThe crystal structure of Lu1−xScxBO3:Ce is rhombohedral system with R  3−c space group. The relationship between the energies of the five Ce3+ 5d levels and the crystalline environment is established.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► Moderate lattice disorder is induced by scandium doping. ► The crystal structure of Lu1−xScxBO3:Ce is rhombohedral system with R  3−c space group. ► Relationship between energies of Ce3+ 5d levels and crystalline environment is established. ► The spectroscopic parameters are experimentally and theoretically calculated.