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Influence of inversion defects and Cr–Cr pairs on the photoluminescent performance of ZnAl2O4 crystals

  • Original Paper: Nano-structured materials (particles, fibers, colloids, composites, etc.)
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Abstract

ZnAl2O4:Cr3+ crystals were synthesized by using sol–gel method at 1000 °C. The results showed that with the concentration of Cr3+ in spinel lattices increasing, the x-ray diffraction peaks shifted toward lower diffraction angles, and the grain size revealed a rapid increase and became invariable when the Cr3+ dopant concentration was above 0.7 mol%. All the samples showed a series of emission peaks ranging from 660 to 730 nm assigned to spin-forbidden 2Eg→4A2g transition of Cr3+ ions in spinel lattices. The intensity of emission peaks revealed a strong dependence on the Cr3+ concentration. An additional emission peak at 740 nm was present when the Cr3+ ions concentration was above 0.5%. All emission peaks were quenched when the Cr3+ concentration reaches 1.3 mol%. The results of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) suggested that the Cr3+ ions occupied the octahedral sites in spinel lattices, and with the Cr3+ concentration increasing, the exchange interaction and coupling interaction between Cr–Cr were enhanced and the antisite defects related to Zn in octahedral sites increased.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Initial Foundation for Doctor Programme of Liaocheng University (No. 318051410), the Project of Science and Technology Plan for University of Shandong Province (No. J16LJ05), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61574071, No. 11604132, No. 11604133), and Industrial Alliance Fund of Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory (Grant No.SDKL2016038), and the Special Construction Project Fund for Shandong Province Taishan Scholars.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Science and Information Technology, Liaocheng University, 252059, Liaocheng, China

    Dong Zhang, Qingjie Guo, Yanfang Ren, Qiang Shi, Qinglin Wang, Xia Xiao, Wenjun Wang & Quli Fan

  2. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology, 252059, Shandong, China

    Dong Zhang, Qiang Shi, Qinglin Wang, Xia Xiao & Wenjun Wang

  3. School of Materials Engineering, Liaocheng University, 252059, Liaocheng, China

    Changzheng Wang

  4. Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 210023, Nanjing, China

    Quli Fan

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  1. Dong Zhang
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Zhang, D., Guo, Q., Ren, Y. et al. Influence of inversion defects and Cr–Cr pairs on the photoluminescent performance of ZnAl2O4 crystals. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 85, 121–131 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4527-4

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