Eu3+-Doped Wide Band Gap Zn2SnO4 Semiconductor Nanoparticles: Structure and Luminescence

Published

August 3, 2016

Author(s)

Mirjana NMN Dimitrievska, Tamara B. Ivetic, Alexander P. Litvinchuk, Andrew Fairbrother, Bojan B. Miljevic, Goran R. Strbac, Alejandro Perez-Rodriguez, Svetlana R. Lukic-Petrovic

Abstract

Nanocrystalline Zn₂SnO₄powders doped with Eu³⁺ ions were synthesized via a mechanochemical solid-state reaction method followed by post annealing in air at 1200 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies provide convincing evidence for the incorporation of Eu³⁺ ions into the host matrix on non-centrosymmetric sites of cubic spinel lattice. Microstructural analysis shows that the crystalline grain size decreases with the addition of Eu³⁺. Formation of a nanocrystalline Eu₂Sn₂O₇ secondary phase is also observed. Luminescence spectra of Eu³⁺-doped samples show several emissions, including narrow-band magnetic dipole emission at 595 nm and electric dipole emission at 615 nm of the Eu³⁺ ions. Excitation spectra and lifetime measurements suggested that Eu³⁺ ions participate at octahedral sites of Zn^2+^ or Sn⁴⁺ under a weak crystal field, rather than the tetrahedral sites of Zn²⁺, due to the high octahedral stabilization energy for Eu³⁺. Activation of symmetry forbidden (IR-active and silent) modes is observed in the Raman scattering spectra of both pure and doped samples, indicating a disorder of the cation sublattice of Sn₂SnO₄ nanocrystallites. These results were further supported by the first principle lattice dynamics calculations. The spinel-type Zn₂SnO₄ shows effectiveness in hosting Eu³⁺ ions, which could be used as a prospective green/red emitter. This works also illustrates how sustainable and simple preparation methods could be used for effective engineering of material properties.

Citation

Journal of Physical Chemistry C

Volume

120

Issue

33

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Zn2SnO4, nanoparticles, doping, photoluminescence, structure, DFT, Raman spectroscopy

Citation

, M. , , T. , , A. , Fairbrother, A. , , B. , , G. , Perez-Rodriguez, A. and , S. (2016), Eu³⁺-Doped Wide Band Gap Zn₂SnO₄ Semiconductor Nanoparticles: Structure and Luminescence, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921545 (Accessed October 17, 2025)