Effect of annealing on down-conversion properties of monoclinic Gd2O3:Er3+ nanophosphors

Erbium-doped nano-sized Gd2O3 phosphor was prepared by a solution combustion method in the presence of urea as a fuel. The phosphor was characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results of the XRD shows that the phosphor has a monoclinic phase, which was further confirmed by the TEM results. Particle size was calculated by the Debye-Scherrer formula. The erbium-doped Gd2O3 nanophosphor was revealed to have good down-conversion (DC) properties and the intensity of phosphor could be modified by annealing. The effects of annealing at 900°C on the particle size and luminescence properties were studied and compared with freshly prepared Gd2O3:Er(3+) nanoparticles. The average particle sizes were calculated as 8 and 20 nm for the freshly prepared samples and samples annealed at 900°C for 1 h, respectively. The results show that both freshly prepared and annealed Gd2O3:Er(3+) have monoclinic structure.