Structural and spectroscopic studies of Lu2O3/Eu3+ nanocrystallites embedded in SiO2 sol–gel ceramics Original Research Article

Preparation and optical properties of Lu2O3/Eu3+ nanocrystals embedded in silica gel glass are described. The structure of the obtained ceramics was determined by XRD and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that with increasing sintering temperature the Lu2O3/Eu3+ nanocrystallites underwent transformation into monoclinic Lu2Si2O7 nanocrystallites. The fluorescence properties were investigated as a function of thermal treatment of the samples. It was found that after sintering at 1250 °C the fluorescence lifetime increased to 1.5 ms at room temperature. The material studied in this work exhibits a very high intensity of fluorescence with potentials for display application.