Doped YAG nanoparticles: neutron diffraction to explain luminescent properties by the lattice features

Doped YAG is an important material with interesting technological applications in inorganic electroluminescence displays, X-ray scintillators, etc. In order to control the morphology and particle size of products, we modified the preparation methods by adding some additives (polymers, metals and glasses), thus improving the luminescent properties. Particularly, one of the most interesting and puzzling result is that, when dealing with nano-powders with the same particle size, we observed the same emission spectra but values of the quantum efficiency changing about twice. In addition to this, in some samples it was observed a small red shift of the emission band. The goal of this study is to investigate the lattice disorder and strain content of crystalline structure of cerium doped YAG nanoparticles obtained via modified urea glass route by combining Neutron and X-Ray Diffraction.

掺杂钇铝石榴石（Doped YAG）是一类具有重要技术应用价值的材料，可应用于无机电致发光显示器、X射线闪烁体（X-ray scintillators）等领域。为精准调控产物的形貌与粒径，我们通过添加聚合物、金属及玻璃类添加剂对制备工艺进行了改性，进而优化了材料的发光性能。尤为引人关注且令人费解的一项实验结果是：当采用粒径完全相同的纳米粉体开展实验时，我们观测到其发射光谱完全一致，但量子效率（quantum efficiency）的数值却存在约两倍的差异。除此之外，部分样品的发射带还出现了小幅红移（red shift）现象。本研究旨在结合中子衍射（Neutron Diffraction）与X射线衍射（X-Ray Diffraction）技术，对通过改性尿素玻璃合成法制备的铈掺杂钇铝石榴石纳米颗粒的晶体晶格畸变与应变含量展开研究。