White- and blue-light-emitting dysprosium(III) and terbium(III)-doped gadolinium titanate phosphors

Abstract

Here we report the synthesis and structural, morphological, and photoluminescence analysis of white- and blue-light-emitting Dy3+- and Tm3+-doped Gd2Ti2O7 nanophosphors. Single-phase cubic Gd2Ti2O7 nanopowders consist of compact, dense aggregates of nanoparticles with an average size of similar to 25 nm for Dy3+-doped and similar to 50 nm for Tm3+-doped samples. The photoluminescence results indicated that ultraviolet (UV) light excitation of the Dy3+-doped sample resulted in direct generation of white light, while a dominant yellow emission was obtained under blue-light excitation. Intense blue light was obtained for Tm3+-doped Gd2Ti2O7 under UV excitation suggesting that this material could be used as a blue phosphor.