Preparation and luminescence properties of rare earth Eu3+ doped ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass-ceramics

Generally, it is very difficult to prepare zinc aluminosilicate glasses because of its high melting temperature. In this work, transparent rare earth Eu3+-doped ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass-ceramics were obtained by sintering the corresponding precursor gels, which were prepared by using tetraethylorthosilicate and inorganic salts as raw materials and by a sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction, infrared spectrometer and fluorescence spectrometer were used to characterize the as-prepared materials. The luminescence properties of Eu3+ in zinc aluminosilicate glass-ceramics were mainly studied. Results showed that ZnAl2O4 nanocrystals were precipitated from ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 system and dispersed in the SiO2-based glass when the heat-treatment temperature was up to 900 degrees C. A strong emission peak at 614 nm was observed and the peak is assigned to D-5(0) -> F-7(2) transition of Eu3+ ions. The luminescence mechanism of Eu(3+)doped ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass-ceramics was analyzed and discussed.