Thermochromic Pr3+ doped CaMoO4 phosphor with diverse thermal responses for temperature sensing.

CaMoO 4 :Pr3+ thermochromic phosphors with diverse thermal responses for temperature sensing were prepared by the traditional solid-phase reaction method. The typical CaMoO 4 :Pr3+ had scheelite structure belonging to tetragonal crystal system and space group of I 4 1 / a (88). Pr3+ ions can be easily substituted for Ca2+ ions of host CaMoO 4 because of similar ionic radius. CaMoO 4 : 1.5% Pr3+ have the block structure with mean size of 6.84 μm. The E g (∼3.93 eV) value of pure CaMoO 4 is bigger than that (∼3.65 eV) of CaMoO 4 : 1.5%Pr3+, attributing to the existence of intermediate defect energy levels. Appropriate Pr3+ doping concentration is 1.5%, and the concentration quenching phenomenon can be explained by the concrete electric multipole type of d-d interaction. The emission peak at ∼605 nm from 1D 2 →3H 4 transition have a good thermal stability of 99.452%@423 K, while the wide band centered at ∼490 nm from 3T 1,2 → 1A 1 transition in the MoO 4 2− complex and 3P 0 →3H 4 transition in Pr3+ have a poor thermal stability of 27.572%@423 K. Calculated activation energy is 0.239 eV. Temperature-dependent FIR for optical thermometry was constructed due to their diverse thermal responses. CaMoO 4 : Pr3+ phosphor had good relative sensitivities of 2.216%, 0.969% and 0.932% based on FIR of I 605 nm /I 490 nm with Boltzmann distribution, modified Boltzmann distribution and exponential equation fitting. Thermochromic behavior and thermal quenching mechanism are investigated. The obtained relative sensitivity is better than that of most phosphors, implying that CaMoO 4 : Pr3+ has a potential for application in optical thermometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]