Eu and Tb co-doped porous SiO2 aerogel composite and its luminescent properties

Abstract In this study, the Tb 3+ and Eu 3+ phosphates were directly assembled into the pores of mesoporous SiO 2 aerogel matrix by sol-gel method, and (Eu 3+ -Tb 3+ ) PO 4 /SiO 2 composite was obtained. The prepared material showed gel block structure whose surfaces were distributed a large number of disordered mesoporous. The advantage of the method was that the rare earth elements could be absolutely assembled into the pores of the SiO 2 aerogel, which resolved a bottleneck problem of the guest materials assembly quantity and guest materials location in porous host materials. The study provided an effective method for host-guest material preparation. The luminescent characters of the (Eu 3+ -Tb 3+ ) PO 4 /SiO 2 composite were studied, the prepared material showed a stronger emission of Eu 3+ at 594 nm which was distinct with the past reports at 612 nm. The optimal proportion of Tb 3+ and Eu 3+ was confirmed according to the sample with the strongest emission.