Luminescent and morphological study of Sr2CeO4 blue phosphor prepared from oxalate precursors

Luminescent and morphological studies of Sr₂CeO₄ blue phosphor prepared from cerium-doped strontium oxalate precursor are reported. Powder samples were prepared from 5 and 25 mol% Ce³⁺-doped strontium oxalate as well as from a mechanical mixture of strontium oxalate and cerium oxalate at a 4:1 ratio, respectively. All the samples were characterized by XRD, IR, PLS, and SEM. The luminescent and structural properties of the Sr₂CeO₄ material are little affected by the SrCO₃ remaining from precursors. The Sr₂CeO₄ material consists in one-dimensional chains of edge-sharing CeO₆ octahedra that are linked together by Sr²⁺ ions. The carbonate ion might be associated with oxygen ions of the linear chain, and also with the oxygen atoms located in the equatorial position, which consequently affects the charge transfer bands between O²⁻ and Ce⁴⁺. As observed by SEM, the morphological changes are related to each kind of precursor and thermal treatment, along with irregular powder particles within the size range 0.5-2 μm.