Photoluminescence characteristics and mechanism of SrAl2O4 co-doped with Eu3+ and Cu2+

SrAl2O4 co-doped with Cu2+ and Eu3+ was prepared at high temperature in a weakly oxidizing atmosphere by solid states reaction. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the sample shows that the doped sample exhibits SrAl2O4 crystalline phase. No characteristic peaks of dopant have been observed in XRD pattern of doped sample. The excitation and emission spectra of CuEu:SrAl2O4, Eu:SrAl2O4, Cu:SrAl2O4 samples consist of many sharp peaks. The excitation and emission spectra of the SrAl2O4 sample co-doped with Cu2+ and Eu3+ are significantly different from those of Eu:SrAl2O4 and Cu:SrAl2O4 samples. The novel photoluminescence (PL) characteristic of the co-doped sample is attributed to the composite luminescence of Cu2+ and Eu3+ ions in SrAl2O4 matrix.