Role of Synthesis Method on Luminescence Properties of Europium(II, III) Ions in β-Ca2SiO4: Probing Local Site and Structure

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Why is it important?

­Structural distortion during a crystallization at low- and high- temperatures are important which needs to be investigated to use the materials for LED application. I have used europium (Eu) as a local spectroscopic probe to investigate the changes in its symmetry of β-Ca2SiO4 (C2S) synthesized by Pechini (C2SP) and hydrothermal methods (C2SH). From the fluorescence spectral study, we demonstrated that the use of high hydrothermal temperature distorts the silicate tetrahedral unit and thereby lowered the C2SH symmetry. To prove it, the Eu3+ dopant in C2SH probes the extended Eu-O distance in C2SH compared with C2SP. This distortion quenches the emission of Eu3+ doped C2SH compared to C2SP. This study suggests that high hydrothermal temperature is not a suitable method to prepare C2S phosphors compared to Pechini method.