Fabrication of white light emitting SrMoO4: Dy3+ nanophosphors: Photoluminescence, ultrasensitive detection in electrochemical sensing, photocatalytic and advanced forensic applications

Abstract

In the present investigations Sr_1-xMoO₄:xDy³⁺ (0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.09) nanopowders were fabricated via simple solution combustion technique. The nanopowders (NPs) were characterized to study their structural, morphological and luminescence properties in detail. From powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) studies it was found that, the compounds have a space group of I41/a with tetragonal phase. The photoluminescence (PL) results showed two main emission bands which corresponds to ⁴F _9/2 → ⁶H _15/2 and ⁴F _9/2 → ⁶H _13/2 transitions. The powders emit intense white colour under near Ultra-Violet (nUV) excitation wavelength. The chromaticity color diagrams were studied in detail. The CIE chromaticity coordinates were found to be in the white region indicates that current phosphors were efficiently used in the fabrication of white light emitting diodes (WLEDs). When exposed to UV light, the sample (SrMoO₄) doped with Dy³⁺ (5 mol%) exhibited superior photocatalytic activity of fast orange dye with 97.5 % degradation in 90 min. Also, the powders were evaluated for their excellent electrochemical sensing applications. An increase in lead concentration led to an augmented current, according to the electrochemical measurement of lead. Further, the use of Sr_1-xMoO₄:xDy³⁺ (x = 5 mol%) powder as a dusting agent in fingerprint applications was demonstrated on various substrate surfaces. The obtained overall results suggest that, the synthesized NPs can be efficiently utilized in the display device fabrications, superior electrode lead selective substance in electrochemical sensing, as an efficient photo catalyst in dye degradation and also in the advanced forensic applications.