The crystal structure, vibrational and luminescence properties of the nanocrystalline KEu(WO4)2 and KGd(WO4)2:Eu3+ obtained by the Pechini method

The luminescent nanocrystalline KEu(WO4)2 and KGd0.98Eu0.02(WO4)2 have been prepared by the Pechini method. X-ray diffraction, infrared and Raman spectroscopy as well as optical spectroscopy were used to characterise the obtained materials. The crystal structure of KEu(WO4)2 was refined in I2/c space group indicating the isostructurality to KGd(WO4)2. The size of the crystalline grains depended on the annealing temperature, increasing with the increase of the temperature. The average size of crystallites of both crystals formed at 540 °C was about 50 nm. Vibrational spectra showed noticeable changes as a function of size due to, among others, phonon confinement effect. Luminescence studies did not reveal significant changes for the nanocrystallites with the lowest grain size in comparison with the bulk material. The differences observed in luminescence spectra in form of slight inhomogeneous broadening of the spectral lines and increase of the hypersensitive I0–2/I0–1 ratio point to very low symmetry of Eu3+ ions and change of the polarisation of the local vicinities of Eu3+. X-ray diffraction, vibrational and optical studies showed that the structure of the synthesised nanocrystalline KEu(WO4)2 and KGd(WO4)2:Eu is nearly the same as that found for the bulk material. The size-driven phase transitions were established for both compounds.