Synthesis of Er doped Gd2O3 nanostructured materials by co-precipitation technique

Rare-earth type oxides (RE2O3) are the most stable rare-earth compounds, in which optically active rare-earth ions hold typically a trivalent state. Among all the rare-earth oxides, cubic phase Gd2O3 is an excellent luminescent host material because of its low phonon energy (phonon cutoff ≈ 600 cm-1), favorable chemical durability, good thermal stability, and the ability of being easily doped with rare earth ions. Erbium doped gadolinium hydroxide (Er:Gd(OH)3) nanorods successfully were synthesized by a convenient co-precipitation technique using gadolinium nitrate hexahydrate and erbium nitrate hexahydrate chemicals as precursor materials. Ammonium hydroxide chemical was used as the alkali compound for precipitating the final products. The influences of reaction temperature and alkali compound on the formation of erbium doped gadolinium hydroxide nanorods were investigated in this article. Erbium doped gadolinium oxide (Er:Gd2O3) nanorods could be obtained by calcining the corresponding erbium doped gadolinium hydroxide counterparts at different temperatures. The phase identification, morphologies and optical behaviors of the as-prepared and annealed samples were investigated in detailed manner by using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX), highresolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectrometry.