Sol-gel 법을 이용한 코어-쉘 실리카-형광체의 제조 및 특성평가

Abstract

Cost-effective functional phosphor nanoparticles are prepared by introducing low-cost SiO2 spheres to rareearth phosphor (YVO4:Eu3+, YVO4:Er3+, and YVO4:Nd3+) shells using a sol-gel synthetic method. These functional nanoparticles are characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and general photoluminescence spectra. The SiO2 sphere occupying the interior of the conventional phosphor is advantageous in significantly reducing the cost of expensive rare-earth phosphor nanoparticles. The sol-gel process facilitates the core–shell structure formation; the rare-earth shell phosphor has strong interactions with chelating agents on the surfaces of SiO2 nanoparticles and thus forms layers of several nanometers in thickness. The photoluminescence wavelength is simply tuned by replacing the active materials of Eu3+, Er3+, and Nd3+. Moreover, the photoluminescent properties of the core–shell nanoparticles can be optimized by manipulating the specific contents of active materials in the phosphors. Our simple approach substitutes low-cost SiO2 for expensive rare-earth-based phosphor materials to realize cost-effective phosphor nanoparticles for various applications.