title: Study on optical properties of rare-earth ions in nanocrystalline monoclinic SrAl2O4: Ln (Ln = Ce3+, Pr3+, Tb3+).
abstract: SrAl(2)O(4): Ln (Ln = Ce(3+), Pr(3+), Tb(3+)) nanocrystals have been synthesized by the combustion method. The results of XRD indicated that the resulting SrAl(2)O(4): Ln (Ln = Ce(3+), Pr(3+), Tb(3+)) nanocrystals have a reduced and distorted monoclinic lattice compared with bulk materials. The spectral properties are measured, and it is found that the excitation peaks of 5d energy levels red shift in nanocrystals in contrast to that in bulk crystals. The mechanism of spectra and energy changes is investigated. The order of the degree of red shift for nano SrAl(2)O(4): Ln (Ln = Ce(3+), Pr(3+), Tb(3+)) crystals is Pr(3+) > Ce(3+) > Tb(3+), which is in good agreement with our predicted results.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Rare Earth Chemistry and Physics, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy Sciences, Changchun 130022, China.
authors.forename: Zuoling
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Shihong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Siyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang