Ethylene glycol associated facile preparation and luminescent behaviors of RE (RE = Sm3+, Dy3+) ions activated NaLuF4 nanoparticles

Abstract To achieve high quality luminescent nanomaterials, we synthesized series of rare-earth (RE; RE = Sm3+, Dy3+) ions activated NaLuF4 nanoparticles via a facile synthetic technique at room temperature. The phase category, microstructure and luminescent behaviors of the resultant samples were detailedly investigated. Under a certain excitation wavelength, these prepared nanoparticles can emit glaring visible light and the emission intensities are determined to be sensitive to the doping content. The optimal doping concentration for Sm3+ and Dy3+ ions in the NaLuF4 host lattices are 1 and 3 mol%, respectively, and the involved concentration quenching mechanisms are all contributed by the electric dipole-dipole interaction. The synthesized nanoparticles exhibit splendid thermal stability and the activation energies of the NaLuF:0.01Sm3+ and NaLuF4:0.03Dy3+ nanoparticles are 0.16 and 0.17 eV, respectively. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent decay time reveals that the thermal quenching mechanism of the designed nanoparticles is responsible by the crossover process between the excited level and ground state. These results indicate that the resultant nanoparticles with good luminescent materials and high thermal stability are potential candidates for white light-emitting diode.