Combustion synthesis and photoluminescence in novel red emitting yttrium gadolinium pyrosilicate nanocrystalline phosphor

Yttrium Gadolinium Pyrosilicate Y2-xGdxSi2O7:Eu3+ (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15) phosphor powder was prepared by facile and time efficient modified combustion method for the first time. The phosphor was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and emission (PL) spectroscopy and color chromaticity coordinates. XRD revealed the monoclinic crystal structure with space group P1¯. The crystallite size was calculated by Williamson-Hall (W-H) analysis. Nanoplates-like morphology was observed in FESEM analysis with size in the range 50-80 nm. TEM images confirmed the particle size and shape. Upon excitation by 254 nm UV light, the phosphor showed the characteristic red emission peaks at 589 nm and 613 nm corresponding to 5D0 → 7F1 and 5D0 → 7F2 transitions respectively. It was observed that the nanocrystalline phosphor Y2-xGdxSi2O7:Eu3+can be tuned to emit orange to red color by adjusting the ratio Y/Gd. This phosphor thus can be a potential candidate as orange to red color emitting tunable nanocrystalline phosphor for optical devices.