Luminescence of delafossite-type CuAlO₂ fibers with Eu substitution for Al cations

Abstract

CuAlO₂ has been examined as a potential luminescent material by substituting Eu for Al cations in the delafossite structure. CuAlO₂:Eu³⁺ nanofibers have been prepared via electrospinning for the ease of mitigating synthesis requirements and for future optoelectronics and emerging applications. Single-phase CuAlO₂ fibers could be obtained at a temperature of 1100 °C in air. The Eu was successfully doped in the delafossite structure and two strong emission bands at ~405 and 610 nm were observed in the photoluminescence spectra. These bands are due to the intrinsic near-band-edge transition of CuAlO₂ and the f-f transition of the Eu³⁺ activator, respectively. Further electrical characterization indicated that these fibers exhibit semiconducting behavior and the introduction of Eu could act as band-edge modifiers, thus changing the thermal activation energies. In light of this study, CuAlO₂:Eu³⁺ fibers with both strong photoluminescence and p-type conductivity could be produced by tailoring the rare earth doping concentrations.

Keywords:

• CuAlO₂
• electrospinning
• luminescent materials

Classification:

• 40 Optical
• magnetic and electronic device materials
• 105 Low-Dimension (1D/2D) materials
• 100 Materials
• 204 Optics / Optical applications
• 200 Applications

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.