A Study of the Effects of Europium Doping and Calcination on the Luminescence of Titania Phosphor Materials

A range of europium-activated titania phosphors with the formula Ti1-3xEu4xO2 (x varying between 0.000397 and 0.00794) have been prepared, and the effects of europium content and titania phase on the luminescent properties have been investigated. It has been demonstrated that the crystallization temperature of the titania from the amorphous phase to the anatase phase is raised by addition of europium to the material. At the same time, the brightness of the emission is also increased as the europium content is raised to x = 0.00794. In addition, we have shown that calcination of the titania to form anatase or rutile reduces the brightness of the luminescence, and that as the temperature of calcination increases, the brightness falls. 151Eu Mossbauer spectroscopy results have shown evidence for the presence of multiple sites (by line broadening) as the europium concentration increases. Extra sites were also observed as the firing temperature was increased. In the most extreme cases, the second sites are cle...