Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5442651 | Optical Materials | 2017 | 4 Pages |
Abstract
In this work it is shown that CaZnOS:Eu2+ has no Eu2+ emission even at low temperature. The observed and earlier reported red emission originates from a CaS:Eu2+ impurity phase. By means of washing the as-prepared samples with diluted nitride acid, we were able to remove the CaS impurity phase and study the Eu2+ emission in the pure CaZnOS phase. A clear relation was found between the red emission intensity, the CaS XRD line intensities and the nitric acid solution washing time, with zero intensity after prolonged washing. A so-called VRBE (vacuum referred binding energy)-diagram was constructed showing the energy of the 4fn and 4fn-15d1 states of the divalent and trivalent rare earth ions as dopants in CaZnOS with respect to the vacuum energy. This diagram shows that the 5d-levels of Eu2+ are located in the conduction band, which explains the absence of 5dâ4f emission. By comparing the VRBE diagram with diagrams of other related compounds like CaO, CaS, ZnO and ZnS it becomes clear that the Eu2+ luminescence quenching is caused by a low lying conduction band, typical for Zn-based compounds.
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Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Ceramics and Composites
Authors
B. Budde, H. Luo, P. Dorenbos, E. van der Kolk,