Sol-gel synthesis and luminescence properties of Ba2SiO4:Sm3+ nanostructured phosphors

Ba2SiO4:Sm3+ nanostructure phosphors have been synthesized by a simple sol-gel method. Phase evaluation, structural characteristics and photoluminescence properties of the synthesized Ba2SiO4:Sm3+ powders were studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). X-ray diffraction results showed that all synthesized samples were single-phase barium silicate (Ba2SiO4) and samarium (Sm) ions were incorporated into the lattice of Ba2SiO4. Adding samarium to barium silicate changed the microstructure from vermicular to spherical structures. The Photoluminescence spectrum of Ba2SiO4:Sm3+ phosphors exhibited characteristic emission peaks at 562 nm which is due to the (4)G(5/2) -> H-6(7/2) transition of samarium ions and corresponds to the orange region. The results showed that the barium silicate activated with 0.08 mol samarium exhibited the highest PL intensity.