Solvothermal synthesis and characterization of Ln (Eu3+, Tb3+) doped hydroxyapatite

Luminescent Ln (Eu3+, Tb3+) doped hydroxyapatite (Eu:HAp, Tb:HAp) phosphors were successfully fabricated via the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)/n-octane/n-butanol/water microemulsion-mediated solvothermal process. The structure, morphology, and optical properties were systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and photoluminescence (PL) spectra as well as the kinetic decays, respectively. The XRD results reveal that the obtained Eu:HAp and Tb:HAp show the characteristic peaks of hydroxyapatite in a hexagonal lattice structure. It is observed that the as-prepared luminescent samples exhibit rod-like morphology with well dispersed and non-aggregated size distribution. Upon excitation by UV radiation, the phosphors demonstrate the characteristic 5D 0-7F 1-4 emission lines of Eu3+ and the characteristic 5D4-7F 3-6 emission lines of Tb3+. Moreover, the photoluminescence intensities (PL) of Eu3+ and Tb3+ can be tuned by altering the solvothermal temperature and the doping concentration of Eu3+ and Tb3+.