Europium(III)-Doped MgAl sub(2)O sub(4) Spinel Nanophosphor Prepared by CO sub(2) Laser Co-Vaporization

• Published in: Journal of the American Ceramic Society Vol. 99; no. 8; pp. 2561 - 2564
• Main Authors: Wenisch, Christoph, Kurland, Heinz-Dieter, Grabow, Janet, Mueller, Frank A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.08.2016
• Subjects: Biomedical materials; Carbon dioxide lasers; Medical imaging; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Photoluminescence; Spinel; Tracking
• ISSN: 0002-7820; 1551-2916
• DOI: 10.1111/jace.14383

Photoluminescent nanoparticles (NPs) are of specific interest for biomedical applications, bioimaging, and cell tracking. Here, we report on the synthesis of europium(III)-doped MgAl sub(2)O sub(4) spinel NPs by the CO sub(2) laser co-vaporization of a homogeneous raw powder mixture consisting of micrometer-sized MgAl sub(2)O sub(4) and Eu sub(2)O sub(3) (2 and 4 mol%, respectively). The resulting NPs are spherically shaped, show a narrow size distribution (mean diameter: ~30 nm), and are well dispersed. The as-prepared NPs are highly crystalline and consist of MgAl sub(2)O sub(4) with small amounts of the secondary phases MgO (~10 mass%) and Eu sub(2)O sub(3) (<0.5 mass%). The photoluminescence spectra of the doped spinel nanopowders show an intense red emission ( lambda sub(em) = 615 nm) resulting from the super(5)D sub(0) arrow right super(7)F sub(2) transition with a maximum intensity at an excitation wavelength of 470 nm.