Study on UV excitation properties of Y2O3:Ln3+ (Ln = Eu3+ or Tb3+) luminescent nanomaterials

Y2O3:Ln3+ (Ln = Eu or Tb) nanocrystals with different Ln3+ doping concentrations and average sizes were prepared by chemical self-combustion. The corresponding bulk materials with various doping concentrations were obtained by annealing the nanomaterials at high temperature. The emission spectra, excitation spectra, and X-ray diffraction spectra were used in this study. It was found that the charge transfer band of Y2O3:Eu3+ red-shifted as particle size decreased, and the charge transfer band in the 5-nm particles obviously broadened toward the long wavelength. It was also found that the profile of excitation spectra corresponding to the 4f5d (4f8 --4f(7)5d1) transition changed a lot with the variation of the particle size. The dependence of the excitation spectra of Y2O3:Ln3+ on particle size was investigated.