LANTHANIDE-DOPED Y₂O₃ - THE PHOTOLUMINESCENT AND RADIOLUMINESCENT PROPERTIES OF SOL-GEL PREPARED SAMPLES

Rare earth-metals sesquioxides (including Y 2 O 3 ) represent a group of materials with extraordinary properties applicable in various technologies. However, one of the special properties -high melting temperature -hinders the wide application of monocrystalline materials. Therefore, it is still important to test other synthesis methods even for relatively well-known materials and even in the form of bulk ceramics. Here, we present the series of lanthanide-doped Y 2 O 3 (Eu 3+ , Pr 3+ , Dy 3+ and Tb 3+ being the dopants) prepared by a Pechini-based method. We demonstrate that this method produces single-phase material with luminescence properties comparable to those of single crystals as proved by the photoluminescence and radioluminescence excited by UV light and X-rays, respectively.