Combustion synthesis and photoluminescence of Ce3+-activated MHfO3 (M=Ba, Sr, or Ca)

Abstract A simple sol–combustion route involving EDTA was employed to prepare nanosized MHfO 3 :Ce (M = Ba, Sr, or Ca) which were characterized by XRD, TEM and luminescent measurements. The as-prepared powders consist of particles with cube-like morphologies for Ce-doped BaHfO 3 and SrHfO 3 and uniform polyhedron-like morphology for Ce-doped CaHfO 3 . The average sizes of crystallites of BaHfO 3 :Ce, SrHfO 3 :Ce and CaHfO 3 :Ce are 48, 34 and 30.4 nm, respectively. Broad emissions for nanocrystals of MHfO 3 :Ce (M = Ba, Sr, or Ca) resulting from Ce 3+ 5d → 4f transitions were observed under UV excitation, and the Stokes shift for nanocrystals of Ce-doped BaHfO 3 , SrHfO 3 and CaHfO 3 are around 9000, 7400 and 7020 cm −1 , respectively.