Properties of Eu doped TiO2 nanoparticles prepared by using organic additives

Europium doped TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel from a medium containing metal alkoxide precursors, solvents and dopants. In order to study the influence of experimental conditions on the properties of Eu doped TiO2 nanoparticles some organic additives such as polyethylene glycol 600 (PEG 600), methacrylic acid (MA), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were added into the precursor sol. Finally, the resulted precursors were annealed in air, at 550 °C to obtain TiO2 nanoparticles. Thermal analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy and evolved gas analysis (EGA) were used to characterize the TiO2:Eu precursor powders. TiO2 nanoparticles were characterized X-ray diffraction (XRD), porosity and surface area measurements (BET), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). It was found that morpho-structural, compositional and photoluminescence properties are strongly influenced by the preparative conditions of europium doped TiO2 nanoparticles.