CaS:Mn_1-xPb_x Luminescent Material Production from Phosphogypsum

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Solid-State Chemistry
• Waste Valorization

Background:

• Phosphogypsum is a high production volume (HPV) industrial waste product.
• Developing luminescent materials from waste streams is an area of active research.
• Sulfide matrices offer potential for tunable luminescence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of producing manganese- and lead-doped luminescent materials from phosphogypsum.
• To synthesize novel orange- and red-emitting ultraviolet pigments.
• To explore the impact of doping on the luminescent properties of a sulfide matrix derived from phosphogypsum.

Main Methods:

• Reduction of phosphogypsum to a sulfide matrix.
• Doping the sulfide matrix with manganese (Mn) and lead (Pb) cations.
• Characterization using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

Main Results:

• Successfully produced orange- and red-emitting ultraviolet pigments from phosphogypsum.
• Demonstrated that doping with Mn and Pb cations in a CaS:Mn1-xPbx solid solution shifts luminescence from orange to red-orange under UV radiation.
• Observed a significant increase in red luminescence intensity for CaS:Mn luminophores under short-wavelength UV irradiation.

Conclusions:

• Phosphogypsum can be effectively utilized to create novel luminescent materials.
• The developed materials exhibit tunable orange-to-red luminescence, suitable for UV-activated pigment applications.
• This research opens avenues for the innovative valorization of chemical waste products into advanced functional materials.