Thermoluminescence and synchrotron radiation studies on the persistent luminescence of BaAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+

The persistent luminescence materials, barium aluminates doped with Eu2+ and Dy3+ (BaAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+), were prepared with the combustion synthesis at temperatures between 400 and 600 °C as well as with the solid state reaction at 1500 °C. The concentrations of Eu2+/Dy3+ (in mol% of the Ba amount) ranged from 0.1/0.1 to 1.0/3.0. The electronic and defect energy level structures were studied with thermoluminescence (TL) and synchrotron radiation (SR) spectroscopies: UV–VUV excitation and emission, as well as with X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) methods. Theoretical calculations using the density functional theory (DFT) were carried out in order to compare with the experimental data.