Understanding the role of fuels and impure phases on photoluminescence and thermoluminescence properties of combustion-derived nano Sr2 CeO4 blue light-emitting phosphor.

Despite great advancements in optical materials and luminescent hosts, self-luminescent blue-emitting phosphors are very limited. In this study we present the influence of fuels used in combustion synthesis on the photoluminescence and thermoluminescence (TL) characteristics of self-luminescent Sr2 CeO4 blue-emitting phosphors. Four different fuels, oxalyldihydrazide (ODH), sugar, glycine, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, were used to synthesize Sr2 CeO4. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns showed that pure orthorhombic Sr2 CeO4 was formed only with the ODH fuel and the other fuels resulted in the formation of impurity phases. Excitation spectra showed peaks at ~290 and 340 nm, corresponding to charge transfer bands from different O2 - to Ce4+ ions. The emission spectra showed an intense blue-emitting band at 470 nm and the highest emission intensity was found for the sample prepared with ODH. Furthermore, TL glow curves for the γ-irradiated Sr2 CeO4 nanophosphor showed that ODH as fuel produced a more intense glow curve compared with other fuels investigated. TL glow curve analysis was carried out by calculating parameters such as activation energy, frequency factor, and order of kinetics. This study explores the importance and role of fuel in tuning the optical properties of phosphor hosts.