Investigation of Structural and Luminescent Properties of Sol-Gel-Derived Cr‑Substituted Mg3Al1−xCrx Layered Double Hydroxides

Abstract

In the present work, Cr-substituted Mg3Al1−xCrx layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were synthesised through the phase conversion of sol-gel-derived mixed-metal oxides in an aqueous medium. The chromium substitution level in the range of 1 to 25 mol% was investigated. It was demonstrated that all synthesised specimens were single-phase LDHs. The results of elemental analysis confirmed that the suggested synthetic sol-gel chemistry approach is suitable for the preparation of LDHs with a highly controllable chemical composition. The surface microstructure of sol-gel-derived Mg3Al1−xCrx LDHs does not depend on the chromium substitution level. The formation of plate-like agglomerated particles, which consist of hexagonally shaped nanocrystallites varying in size from approximately 200 to 300 nm, was observed. Optical properties of the synthesised Mg3Al1−xCrx LDHs were investigated by means of photoluminescence. All Cr-containing powders exhibited characteristic emission in the red region of the visible spectrum. The strongest emission was observed for the sample doped with 5 mol% Cr3+ ions. However, the emission intensity of samples doped with 1–10 mol% Cr3+ ions was relatively similar. A further increase in the Cr3+ ion concentration to 25 mol% resulted in severe concentration quenching.