Comprehensive study on structural, thermal, morphological and luminescence (RL, PL, TL) properties of CaLa2(WO4)4: Tb3+, Dy3+ phosphors synthesized via sol-gel method

Abstract Tb3+/Dy3+ co-doped CaLa2(WO4)4 (CLW: Tb3+/Dy3+) and its derivatives were synthesized by the sol-gel method. The morphology, thermal, structure and luminescent-optical properties the as-prepared light-emitting phosphors were characterized by utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential thermal analysis (DTA)-thermogravimetric analysis (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and radioluminescence (RL or X-ray luminescence) - photoluminescence (PL) –thermoluminescence (TL or TSL) - optical absorption spectrometry. The Tb3+ and Dy3+ ions were singly or doubly doped and the results were examined in detail. Moreover, for these phosphors, the energy transfer mechanisms which depend on RL and PL spectra were determined. The samples excited by X-ray demonstrate characteristic luminescence peaks of Dy3+ (422, 480, 575, 663 and 747 nm) and Tb3+ (489, 544, 586, 620, 652 and 675 nm). These emissions are similar for RL and PL measurements. It could be said that the energy transfer efficiency of the host material is perfect for rare-earth ions. The synthesized phosphors exhibit various colors from yellow to blue under UV excitation. The optical band gaps of host CLW, CLW: Tb3+, CLW: Dy3+ and co-doped CLW: Tb3+/Dy3+ were calculated at values 3.83 eV, 3.44 eV, 3.64 eV and 3.52 eV, respectively. From the results obtained, the CaLa2(WO4)4: Tb3+, Dy3+phosphors may be one of the potential candidates for light-emitting diode.