Phase studies of the system Gd2O3-Ce2O3-SiO2 and their luminescence properties

Abstract

A sol-gel powder preparation was demonstrated for cerium-activated gadolinium silicate luminescent materials. This method was proved to be superior over a usual solid state reaction method in obtaining single phases of cerium doped gadolinium oxy-orthosilicate and gadolinium pyrosilicate. The study was extended to cover a three-component phase diagram: Gd2O3-Ce2O3-SiO2. Confirmed were single phases with four different crystal structures applicable for phosphors: one gadolinium oxy-orthosilicate, and three gadolinium pyrosilicates. Their photoluminescence properties vary with the change in crystal structure, which indicates that the cerium luminescence center is definitely influenced by the crystal field in individual crystal structure. It was demonstrated that this sol-gel method is useful for an investigation of the relationship between crystal structure and luminescence property.