Synthesis of cubic ordered mesoporous YPO4:Ln3+ and their photoluminescence properties

Abstract

Cubic ordered mesoporous yttrium phosphate (YPO₄) and lanthanide-doped yttrium phosphates (YPO₄:Ln³⁺, Ln³⁺ = Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺ and Ce³⁺) have been synthesized successfully through the nanocasting route by employing the Y(NO₃)₃:Ln(NO₃)₃/H₃PO₄/HNO₃ system as a guest unit and KIT-6 silica as a hard template host, and their textural and structure properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electronic microscope and nitrogen adsorption at low temperature. The results show that the cubic ordered mesoporous YPO₄ and YPO₄:Ln³⁺ materials exhibit high surface area, large pore volume and uniform pore size distribution. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements exhibit their optical properties such as red, green and blue emission, and their PL intensities can be altered by the dopant Ln³⁺ concentration, without the need for doping or grafting external fluorophore species.