Synthesis of weakly-agglomerated luminescent CaWO4:Nd3+ particles by modified Pechini method

Abstract The specific luminescence behavior of crystalline oxide particles doped with rare earth ions strongly depends on the initial composition of the host material and synthesis conditions. This issue is especially significant for non-isovalent doping in the crystal lattice. In this case, the formation of the structure is accompanied by the formation of point defects serving as charge compensators. The work is devoted to the synthesis of CaWO4:Nd3+ particles in the salt melt (modified Pechini method) and the study of structural and luminescent properties under varying synthesis conditions. It was found that temperature and duration of heat treatment in the salt melt (KCl) affected the crystal structure, the size of coherent scattering regions, luminescence intensity, and lifetime. An increase of heat treatment temperature led to a reduction of luminescence intensity and lifetime due to the formation of point defects. The optimal synthesis conditions for obtaining the highest luminescence intensity of CaWO4:Nd3+ crystalline particles in salt melt were found to be the following Т1= 600 оС; t1=2 h (the stage of polymer gel thermal treatment), Т2= 800 оС; t2=1 h (the stage of thermal treatment in KCl salt melt). As-synthesized CaWO4:Nd3+ powders contain both coarse and fine fractions. However weak particle agglomeration allowed obtaining a water dispersion with individual nanoparticles (up to 200 nm) after ultrasonic treatment. According to the obtained results, the synthesized material is characterized by high luminescence intensity and high dispersion, and promising as fluorescent thermometers and biological labels.