Abstract:

Eu³⁺-activated BiOCl layered phosphors induced by doping Zn²⁺ were prepared by traditional solid reaction method, and the effect of Zn²⁺ ion dopants (0-20mol%) on the photoluminescence properties were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared absorption (FT-IR), excitation and emission spectra, and luminescence decay curves measurement. It is found that increase of concentration of Zn²⁺ ion dopants almost has no influence on the structure of BiOCl crystals but decreases the emission intensity of Eu³⁺ ion at first and then increases it, accompanying with continually enhancing luminescence lifetime of Eu³⁺ ions. The comparative experiments suggest that this results are involved in special layered structure of BiOCl semiconductor. Zn²⁺ ions would be incorporated into interlayer space of the BiOCl layered crystals when the concentration of Zn²⁺ ions ≤10%. Then, Zn²⁺ ions tend to incorporate into crystal lattices by substituting Bi³⁺ ions. Different doping mechanism of Zn²⁺ may change Eu³⁺ lifetime and modify energy transfer efficiency from the host, leading to above emission behavior of Eu³⁺ ion dopants. The result is helpful to improve performance of novel red Eu³⁺ doped BiOCl phosphor and to understand emission property of rare earth ion in layered phosphors.

Key words: BiOCl, Eu³⁺ ion, Zn²⁺ doped, layered semiconductor