A Novel Strong Cyan Luminescence Emission of Tb2O3 Particles

Abstract

Terbium oxide (Tb2O3) particles (NPs) were synthesized by precipitation method using ammonium carbonate as precipitation agent. Effects of precursor molarity (0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 M) on photoluminescence (PL) behaviour of the NPs were investigated. The presence of the Tb2O3 phase was confirmed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses. Morphological investigations of the produced powders were made by Field Emission Gun-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FEG-SEM). It showed that the morphology of Tb2O3 particles transformed from the nanograin chain to bundles morphology of rod-like as the amount of precursor molarity increased. Emission spectrum were investigated by Photoluminescence (PL) Spectroscopy. All the Tb2O3 particles exhibited the strongest peak at 493 nm ascribed to 5D4-7F6 (magnetic dipole (MD), C2) transition. The increase in the number of C2 sites released from the MD transition with the increase of the precursor molarity caused a negative increase in the b* (yellowness/blueness of the emission) value in the CIE diagram, indicating that the colour shifted to the blue region. The Tb2O3 particles produced by the precipitation method exhibited novel strong cyan colour and the PL emission intensity increased with increasing molarity.