Ecsl 12 J64 2009
Ecsl 12 J64 2009
Ecsl 12 J64 2009
Letters
Manuscript submitted November 25, 2008; revised manuscript received April 7, 2009. Published April 29, 2009.
Research interest on lanthanide 共Ln兲-doped materials is rapidly as KNN01, KNN03, KNN05, and KNN07, respectively. The crystal
growing due to their potential applications as nonlinear optical ma- structures of the prepared samples were examined by X-ray diffrac-
terials. These materials found wide use in the development of tion 共XRD兲 analysis using a high resolution XRD system with
plasma display panels, field emission displays, and electrolumines- Cu K␣1 radiation 共 = 1.542 Å兲. The surface morphologies of the
cent panels. Many researchers reported various phosphor host ma- samples were investigated by the field-emission-scanning electron
trices with suitable luminescent Ln ions that found vital applications microscopy 共FESEM兲 images using a field-emission gun scanning
in optical devices such as fluorescent lamps, cathode ray tubes, and electron microscope 共JSM-6700F兲 operated at 15 kV, which also
X-ray intensifying screens.1-5 Potassium niobate 共KNbO3兲 is recog- provided the energy-dispersive analysis through its integrated
nized as one of the best host matrices for Ln ions as it is a useful energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer 共EDXS兲 to analyze the com-
candidate for ferroelectric materials with excellent electro-optic and positional molar ratios. The particle sizes were analyzed through
nonlinear optical coefficients, which have attracted a great interest transmission electron microscopy 共TEM兲 images also using a trans-
for applications in optical waveguides, frequency doublers, and ho- mission electron microscope 共JEM-2010 JEOL, H-7500 Hitachi兲.
lographic storage systems.6,7 Among Ln ions, Nd3+ ion is one of the The NIR emission spectra 共800–1600 nm兲 were measured at room
most extensively studied ions for solid-state lasers due to its laser temperature on exciting the samples by the 514.5 nm wavelength of
emission at a very useful wavelength, 1064 nm, in addition to the an Ar+-ion laser using a fluorescence spectrophotometer connected
possibility of lasing at other wavelengths such as 1800, 1350, and to a computer-controlled EC&G Princeton Applied Research 5207
881 nm at room temperature. Also, its absorption in the UV–visible– lock-in amplifier. The signal was then analyzed using a 0.5 m mono-
near-IR 共NIR兲 regions allows an efficient pumping either with chromator equipped with a 150 lines/mm grating and detected with
broad-band sources 共Xenon lamp兲 or with sources of selected wave- an InGaAs PMT and a digital oscilloscope.
length using diode lasers.8,9 Although plenty of articles on various
preparation methods and structural investigations of KNbO3-related Results and Discussion
perovskite ceramics are available,10-17 only a few articles18-24 can be The XRD patterns of the prepared samples are shown in Fig. 1.
found on the luminescent characterization of Ln-doped perovskite As can be seen in Fig. 1, for the KNN01 sample, the diffraction
materials. Therefore, based on this motivation, we have prepared the
KNbO3:Nd3+ phosphors with different concentrations of Nd3+ ions
by the conventional solid-state reaction method in our present work,
and the dependence of morphological and fluorescence properties of
the prepared materials on Nd3+-ion concentration has been investi-
gated.
Experimental
3+
The Nd -doped KNbO3 powder phosphors were synthesized by
the conventional solid-state reaction method by using the raw mate-
rials of high purity chemicals: K2CO3 共99.9%, Aldrich兲, Nb2O5
共99.9%, Aldrich兲, and Nd2O3 共99.99%, Alfa兲. These raw materials
with correct proportional amounts were finely ground in an agate
mortar with a pestle on adding a little amount of acetone. The mix-
ture was then taken in an alumina crucible, sintered in a tubular
electric furnace at 120°C for 1 h, 750°C for 4 h, and 1050°C for 4
h, and finally annealed at 400°C for 10 h at ambient atmosphere.
3+
The concentrations of Nd3+ ions doped in the K共1−x兲NbO共3+␦兲:Nd共x兲
共KNN兲 phosphors were taken as x = 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07 mol,
and here afterward, for simplicity, these samples have been labeled
Figure 1. XRD patterns of 共a兲 0.01, 共b兲 0.03, 共c兲 0.05, and 共d兲 0.07 mol
z
E-mail: ssyi@silla.ac.kr concentrations of Nd3+-doped KNbO3 phosphors, along with JCPDS data.
Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, 12 共7兲 J64-J68 共2009兲 J65
orbit coupling parameter 共兲 due to changes in the overlap of the 1060 nm in the Nd3+-doped K3Li共2−x兲Nb共5+x兲O共15+2x兲 共KLN兲 single-
ligand orbitals with the 4f-electron wave function with an increase crystal fiber.24 The emission characteristics of Nd3+-doped LiNbO3
in Nd3+-ion concentration.30,31 The observed redshift can also be 共LNN兲 powders22 and channel waveguides33 and Nd3+-doped phos-
attributed to the formation of a second phase, which may make the phate glasses 共PKBAN兲 27 are also presented in Table I for compari-
Nd3+ ions occupy nonequivalent sites and experience different sym-
son. As can be observed from the 共R兲exp values, the relative con-
metries or different CF environments at higher concentrations.18 The
peak positions corresponding to the 4F3/2 → 4I11/2 transition at 1061 tributions of the 4F3/2 → 4IJ 共J = 9/2, 11/2, and 13/2兲 transitions in
共KNN01 and KNN03兲 and 1068 nm 共KNN05 and KNN07兲 in the the present KNN phosphors are comparable with that of earlier re-
present KNbO3:Nd3+ phosphor are comparable to those at 1064 nm ported Nd3+-doped systems.24,27,32 The variations in the emission
in the Nd3+-doped Li3Ba2Gd3共WO4兲8 共LBGWN兲 crystal32 and at characteristics of Nd3+ ions in different host materials might be at-
Table I. Emission peak position „p… (nm), effective linewidth „⌬eff…, (nm) and experimental branching ratio †„R…exp‡ of different transitions
of Nd3+-doped KNbO3 phosphors along with some reported Nd3+-doped systems.
KNN01 880.6 1060.6 1343.3 24.3 25.9 23.1 0.34 0.56 0.10
KNN03 880.6 1060.6 1343.0 26.6 28.3 25.7 0.30 0.59 0.11
KNN05 880.9 1067.9 1343.9 26.7 27.6 22.4 0.32 0.57 0.11
KNN07 881.2 1067.9 1343.9 32.4 24.9 22.5 0.32 0.57 0.11
LBGWN32 900 1064 1330 — — — 0.21 0.68 0.11
PKBAN27 892 1054 1325 38.0 25.5 41.9 0.28 0.59 0.12
KLN24 900 1060 1350 — — — 0.43 0.46 0.11
LNN22 890 1072 1340 — — — — — —
LNN33 900 1080 1300 — — — — — —
tributed to changes in the chemical and physical interactions in the 共兲 due to changes in the overlap of the ligand orbitals with the
nearest-neighbor coordination shell, where various factors such as 4f-electron wave function and the formation of a second phase with
bond lengths, bond angles, coordination number, and covalency de- an increase in Nd3+-ion concentration.
termine the energy, mixing, and splittings of the electronic states
involved in luminescence.34 Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Korea Research Foundation
grant funded by the Korean Government 共grant no. KRF-2007-412-
Conclusions J00902兲.
Different concentrations of Nd3+-ion-doped KNbO3 phosphors Silla University assisted in meeting the publication costs of this article.
have been synthesized by the conventional solid-state reaction
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