Elsevier

Thin Solid Films

Volume 417, Issues 1–2, 30 September 2002, Pages 43-46
Thin Solid Films

Study on preparation and optic properties of nano europium oxide–ethanol sol by pulsed laser ablation

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(02)00640-5Get rights and content

Abstract

A novel method has been established for successive preparation of nano inorganic compound sols by pulsed laser ablation at the interface of solid and flow–liquid, and nano europium oxide–ethanol sol (NEO–ES) is obtained by this method firstly. The sol has been characterized by TEM, FT–IR, UV–VIS, fluorescence spectrum and XRD. The TEM result shows that europium oxide particles in NEO–ES have better dispersivity and their sizes are mostly below 5 nm. It is found that the vibration of ethanol molecule groups in the sol is obviously effected by nano europium oxide. The UV–VIS result shows that there are two strong absorption peaks at 244 nm and 284 nm vested in the characteristic peaks of Eu2+ and its emission fluorescence spectrum is a broad peak with maximum value at 408 nm of Eu2+. It is indicated that the Eu3+ of Eu2O3 is reduced to Eu2+ in the preparation course of the sol. The XRD shows that the nano europium oxide is mostly in non-crystalline form. The above results display that the characteristic of NEO–ES are closely concerned with the features of the method.

Introduction

Because the rare earth element europium possesses many excellent optic properties, such as high photoluminescence efficiency and pure emission color, Eu3+ and Eu2+ as emissive center of pure red and green or blue light have been subjected to great attention [1], [2], [3] in luminescent materials. Recently, investigation on optic properties of europium has mainly been focused on the luminescence characterization of europium complexes [4] and adulterated europium in matrix such as Y2O3, CaS, SrAl2O4, YTaO4, etc. [5], [6], [7]. By contrast, optic property of nano europium oxide sol itself has seldom been reported up to now, because high Eu ion concentration in europium oxides will lead to fluorescence quenching.

The preparation of nanometer metals, alloys and oxides, carbide, silicates and carbon nano tubes by pulsed laser ablation at solid target in vacuum or inert gas has been widely investigated [8], [9]. Production of nano crystalline diamond [10], C3N4 and other metastable compounds [11] has been reported in recent years.

During these years, we have established a novel method for successive preparation of nano-inorganic or organic sols by pulsed laser ablation at the interface of solid and flow–liquid and obtained firstly various organic and inorganic sols of important metals, oxides, other inorganic compounds and their mix, blend, adulterated materials by this method. It is found that these sols produced in an instant (8 ns/pulse) with high temperature, high pressure and ultra-high condensation rate have low nano-size (mostly below 20 nm) and good dispersity, because the nano-particles’ surface has been modified or decorated in situ. So, it can be expected that discovering new materials with some strange properties for ultra-high density record materials, quantum laser and non-line optical materials, and so on, by this method.

This paper reports studies on preparation of the europium oxide ethanol sol by this method firstly, and its properties characterized by TEM, FT–IR, UV–VIS, fluorescence spectra and XRD.

Section snippets

Materials

Europium oxide (purity 99.99%, purchased from the Shanghai Yaolong Non-Ferrous Co. Ltd.) was dried for 2 h at 110 °C and pressed into target piece with 10 mm of diameter and 2∼3 mm of thickness. Anhydrous ethanol was redistilled under reducing pressure before using.

Instruments

The laser continuous ablation equipment was assembled for this study. The Pulsed laser beam was produced from a DCR–3G (Nd: YAG) solid laser generator with 532 nm wavelength of double frequency output, pulse time width 8 ns, repeated

Results and discussion

The europium oxide target submerged in flow–ethanol was bombarded by focused pulse laser beam under nitrogen atmosphere. Because the power density of the pulsed laser beam in the focus spot is high at 108 W/cm2, it produces a micro-region with high temperature and high pressure on the interface of the solid target and flow–ethanol and causes the europium oxide in the micro-region to be gasified, ionized and become a plasma mass in the very short time scale of 8 ns. Subsequently, it was

Conclusion

Nano-europium oxide ethanol sol was prepared by a novel method of pulsed laser ablation at the interface of europium oxide and flow ethanol. The TEM result shows that europium oxide particles in NEO–ES have better dispersity and their sizes are mostly below 5 nm. It is found that the vibration of ethanol molecule groups in the sol is obviously effected by nano europium oxide. The UV–VIS result shows that there are two strong absorption peaks at 244 nm and 284 nm vested in the characteristic

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