Partic. vol. 37 pp. 37-42 (April 2018)
doi: 10.1016/j.partic.2017.05.010

Facile room-temperature coprecipitation of uniform barium chlorapatite nanoassemblies as a host photoluminescent material

Peiyan Zhai, Xiuping Chen, Zhaoqiang Zhang, Lin Zhu, Heng Zhang, Wancheng Zhu^*

zhuwancheng@tsinghua.org.cn

Abstract

As an emerging host phosphor material, barium chlorapatite (Ba₅(PO₄)₃Cl), is attracting growing attention. However, rare earth-doped Ba₅(PO₄)₃Cl phosphors have mainly been obtained via high temperature-based, energy-consuming techniques. In this contribution, we developed a straightforward, facile room-temperature coprecipitation method in the presence of a specific amount of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt that provided Ba₅(PO₄)₃Cl nanoparticles self-assembled to construct uniform Ba₅(PO₄)₃Cl nanoassemblies (diameter: 80–120 nm) as well as rare earth Tb³⁺-doped Ba₅(PO₄)₃Cl:xTb³⁺ nanophosphors. The nanoassemblies were transparent within the ultraviolet and visible spectral range. The Ba₅(PO₄)₃Cl:xTb³⁺ nanophosphors exhibited four emission peaks under 228-nm excitation, and the optimal doping amount of Tb³⁺ was 4.0%. In contrast to traditional energy-consuming, high-temperature techniques, the facile room-temperature coprecipitation method developed here represents an attractive alternative route to obtain uniform Ba₅(PO₄)₃Cl nanoassemblies and Ba₅(PO₄)₃Cl:xTb³⁺ nanophosphors that are candidate luminescent hosts.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Barium chlorapatite; Nanoassemblies; Phosphors; Luminescence; Room-temperature coprecipitation