Luminescence and x-ray absorption measurements of persistent SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy powders: evidence for valence state changes

摘要

The development of new efficient afterglow phosphors is currently hampered by a limited understanding of the persistent luminescence mechanism. Radioluminescence and x-ray absorption measurements on the persistent phosphor SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy were combined to reveal possible valence state changes for the rare earth (co)dopants. Traps in the phosphor material are quickly filled when exposing thermally emptied SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy powder to x-rays. On the same time scale, a partial oxidation of Eu2+ to Eu3+ is observed by XANES (x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy), while for the trivalent dysprosium the valence state remains unchanged. The impact of these observations on the recently proposed models for persistent luminescence is discussed.