Luminescence behavior of Eu3+ doped LaF3 nanoparticles.

Europium-doped LaF3 nanoparticles have been prepared by the ionic reaction in the ethanol at 60 degrees C. From the XRD pattern of nanoparticles and the emission spectra of Eu3+ ions, it has been concluded that the Eu3+ ions could easily substitute the La3+ sites and the solid solution La(1-x)Eu(x)F3 can be synthesized. Due to very low phonon energies of LaF3 matrix, the 5D1 emission of Eu3+ ions in La(1-x)Eu(x)F3 nanoparticles can be observed at room temperature when doping concentration of Eu3+ ions is lower than 30 mol%. The quenching process of 5D1 emission can be attributed to cross-relaxation. Since clusters of Eu3+ ions and resonance energy transfer only occurs within one particle due to the hindrance by the particle boundary, the concentration quenching resulted from resonance energy transfer between neighboring Eu3+ ions occurs at higher Eu3+ concentrations in the Eu3+ doped LaF3 nanoparticles.