A modified hydrothermal synthesis and luminescence of hydroxyapatite doped with Ce~(3+) and Tb~(3+) ions

摘要

Luminescent Ln~(3+) (Ce~(3+), Tb~(3+)) doped hydroxyapatite (HAp: Ce, Tb) phosphors were successfully fabricated via the modified hydrothermal process. The structure, morphology, and luminescent properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence (PL) spectra respectively. The XRD results reveal that the obtained HAp: Ce, Tb phosphors show the characteristic peaks of hydroxyapatite in a hexagonal lattice structure and the import of Ce~(3+) and Tb~(3+) causes small change in the crystalline structure and leads to the peaks shifting and declining. It is observed that the as-prepared luminescent samples exhibit nearly equiaxial morphology of dispersed particles about 50-150 nm in size. Under 254 nm UV radiation excitation, the phosphors demonstrate the characteristic ~5D_4-~7F_(3-6) emission lines of Tb~(3+) and the excitation of Tb~(3+) is mainly caused by the energy transfer from Ce~(3+). PL intensity of Tb~(3+) doped HAp remarkably strengthened with increment of Ce~(3+) concentration and reached the maximum at the concentration of 4 mol%.