Morphology control and luminescence properties of BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+ phosphors prepared by spray pyrolysis

Starting from the aqueous solutions of metal nitrates with citric acid and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as additives, BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+ (BAM:Eu2+) phosphors were prepared by a two-step spray pyrolysis (SP) method. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photoluminescence spectra were used to characterize the resulted BAM:Eu2+ phosphors. The obtained BAM:Eu2+ phosphor particles have spherical shape, submicron size (0.5–3 μm). The effects of process conditions of the spray pyrolysis, such as molecular weight and concentration of PEG, on the morphology and luminescence properties of phosphor particles were investigated. Adequate amount of PEG was necessary for obtaining spherical particles, and the optimum emission intensity could be obtained when the concentration of PEG was 0.03 g/ml in the precursor solution. Moreover, the emission intensity of the phosphors increased with increasing of metal ion concentration in the solution. Compared with the BAM:Eu2+ phosphor prepared by citrate-gel method, spherical BAM:Eu2+ phosphor particles showed a higher emission intensity.