Facile synthesis and multicolor luminescent properties of uniform Lu2O3:Ln (Ln=Eu3+, Tb3+, Yb3+/Er3+, Yb3+/Tm3+, and Yb3+/Ho3+) nanospheres

Multicolor Lu(2)O(3):Ln (Ln=Eu(3+), Tb(3+), Yb(3+)/Er(3+), Yb(3+)/Tm(3+), and Yb(3+)/Ho(3+)) nanocrystals (NCs) with uniform spherical morphology were prepared through a facile urea-assisted homogeneous precipitation method followed by a subsequent calcination process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS), Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and photoluminescence (PL) spectra as well as kinetic decays were employed to characterize these samples. The XRD results reveal that the as-prepared nanospheres can be well indexed to cubic Lu(2)O(3) phase with high purity. The SEM images show the obtained Lu(2)O(3):Ln samples consist of regular nanospheres with the mean diameter of 95 nm. And the possible formation mechanism is also proposed. Upon ultraviolet (UV) excitation, Lu(2)O(3):Ln (Ln=Eu(3+) and Tb(3+)) NCs exhibit bright red (Eu(3+), (5)D(0)→(7)F(2)), and green (Tb(3+), (5)D(4)→(7)F(5)) down-conversion (DC) emissions. Under 980 nm NIR irradiation, Lu(2)O(3):Ln (Ln=Yb(3+)/Er(3+), Yb(3+)/Tm(3+), and Yb(3+)/Ho(3+)) NCs display the typical up-conversion (UC) emissions of green (Er(3+), (4)S(3/2),(2)H(11/2)→(4)I(15/2)), blue (Tm(3+), (1)G(4)→(3)H(6)) and yellow-green (Ho(3+), (5)F(4), (5)S(2)→(5)I(8)), respectively.