title: Photoluminescent properties of nanoscaled Zn2SiO4:Mn2+ green phosphor under vacuum ultraviolet excitation.
abstract: Nanoscaled Zn2SiO4:Mn2+ green phosphor was synthesized through the hydrothermal method using Zn(CH3COO)2, Mn(CH3COO)2, and (C2H5O)4Si as starting materials. According to the XRD results, the pure hexagonal structured zinc silicate nanophosphor could be synthesized at a low temperature of 140 degrees C. The TEM image showed that the obtained nanophosphor was composed of rod-like particles with average diameter of 100 nm and length of 150 nm. When the cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide as the surfactant molecules was adopted into the hydrothermal procedure, the morphology and the particle size of the phosphor could be controlled. The uniform spherical nanoparticles with the diameter of 60 nm were synthesized. Under vacuum ultraviolet excitation, the nanoscaled Zn2SiO4:Mn2+ phosphor exhibited the strongest broad emission at about 523 nm which attributed to the 4T1 --> 6A1 transition of Mn2+. The photoluminescence intensity of the phosphors increased along with the increasing hydrothermal temperature due to higher crystallinity. It was found that the Zn2SiO4:Mn2+ nanospheres had higher photoluminescence intensity than the rod-like particles due to fewer defects, which provide non-radiative recombination routes in the Zn2SiO4:Mn2+ nanosphere phosphors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, PR China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yuhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang