Synthesis of uniform rare earth doped Gd2O2S sub-micron sized spheres using gas-aided sulfurization and their optical characteristics

Abstract

In this work, we report a detailed study of the synthesis of sub-micron sized Gd₂O₂S spheres using a two-step process: (1) amorphous precursor synthesis using the solvothermal method where a surfactant was used to control particle morphology, followed by (2) crystallization to form Gd₂O₂S polycrystalline spheres in a sulfur-rich environment. The crystallization and sulfurization processes are investigated by monitoring the crystal growth at different temperatures and under different environments using mainly X-ray diffraction and analysis of the precursor's thermal decomposition profile. The optical emissions of the Er and Yb-Er doped Gd₂O₂S upon excitation at 975 nm were investigated to identify the optimal dopant concentrations, optimal heat treatment temperature as well as to further elucidate any fine structure changes. Our results also show that the maximum emission intensities were obtained for a heat treatment temperature of 800 °C, where increased dopant diffusion coupled with non-uniform surface segregation at much higher temperatures led to non-uniform dopant distribution and reduced emission intensities. Our findings from these studies would be useful towards the synthesis of brightly-emitting Gd₂O₂S based luminescent materials as well as for the controlled gas-aided sulfurization of other metal oxysulfides.