Hydroxyl-Quenching Effects on the Photoluminescence Properties of SnO2:Eu3+ Nanoparticles

The effects of hydroxyl quenching were examined on the photoluminescence properties of SnO2:Eu3+ nanoparticles. High-quality SnO2:Eu3+ nanoparticles were simply synthesized from SnCl4, EuCl3, and ethylene glycol. The photoluminescence spectra showed a reddish orange emission, which gradually increased with the calcination temperature in the range from 700 to 1000 °C. As the calcination temperature varied, the change of the OH-/O2- integrated-intensity ratios from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was qualitatively consistent with that of the photoluminescence intensities. The samples obtained after the hydrothermal treatment and after reheating, respectively, exhibited a decline and recovery of their emission intensities, and this behavior with XPS confirmed the hydroxyl-quenching effect.