Abstract
In the present study, the structural and optical properties of SrSnO3 doped with Tb ions are reported. Novel SrSnO3:Tb3+ phosphors were conventionally synthesized using a solid state reaction process under a mildly reduced atmosphere (5% H-2 and 95% N-2). The crystal structures, morphologies and optical properties of the resultant materials have been characterised by experimental techniques such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (RS), Photoluminescence (PL), Radioluminescence (RL) and Cathodoluminescence coupled to an ESEM (ESEM-CL). The new phosphor material has good crystallization without any impurity phases, which matches with the standard JCPDS files (No. 22-1442) from XRD analysis. The PL, RL and CL measurements taken at room temperature showed that the transitions of D-5(4) to F-7(J) (j = 6, 5, 4, 3) corresponding to the typical 4f -> 4f dipole forbidden intra-configurational transitions of Tb3+ are largely independent of the host material. The green emissions of the D-5(4) -> F-7(5) magnetic dipole transition at similar to 540 nm are predominant for three types of luminescence. PL emission spectra recorded in the temperature range from 10 K to 300 K were influenced by temperature. We report anomalies in the PL spectra of SrSnO3:Tb3+ compatible with a structural phase transition at 260 K while simultaneously exciting and cooling the sample. This work clearly confirms the existence of a phase transition discovered by Singh et al. in SrSnO3 at 270 K. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.