Preparation and characterization of optical spectroscopy of Lu ₂O₃:Eu nanocrystals

Nanoscale Lu₂O₃:Eu powders were prepared by solution combustion synthesis. X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution electronic microscope (HREM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), excitation and emission spectra, as well as fluorescent decay curves were measured to characterize the structure and luminescent properties of the samples. The results show that the compound of composition Lu₂O₃ crystallizes in pure cubic structure. By changing the ratio of glycine to nitrate in the combustion process, the particle size varies from 40 nm to less than 5 nm. The emission and excitation spectra strongly depend on the particle size of the samples. Novel emission band, red-shift of charge transfer band (CTB) and shortening of lifetime were observed in nanoscale samples.