CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYCRYSTALS OF STO DOPED WITH EUROPIUM: Sr_{1 − X}Eu_xTiO₃

ABSTRACT

The crystalline structure, microstructure, luminescence and dielectric properties of SrTiO₃ polycrystals doped with Eu^{3 +} at different compositional ratios were studied by XRD, XPS and SEM analyses. Rietveld refinement of the XRD data shows a slight decrease of the cell volume indicating the incorporation of Eu^{3 +} in the crystalline structure. The structure remains cubic (Pm3m) at room temperature in the analyzed range of Eu doping. XPS studies revealed the characteristic signal of the Eu^{3 +} ion in the solid solution. From the dielectric behavior it was possible to identify that Eu doping produces changes with respect to pure STO. Photoluminescence spectra taken at room temperature showed that Eu^{3 +} doping of SrTiO₃ causes emission peaks at 590 and 616 nm.

Keywords:

• Eu doped SrTiO₃ ceramics
• luminescence
• structural characterization

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank P. Casillas, A. Duran, J. Heiras, G. Hirata, J. A. Diaz, N. Perea, M. Sainz, J. Peralta and J. Palomares CCMC-UNAM for their technical assistance. Dra. N. Ayala-Sánchez, Dr. J. Villegas-Vicencio and Dr. J. Tapia-Mercado, UABC for the support. This work is partially supported by CONACyT Proj. No. 47714-F and 82503 and DGAPA-UNAM Proj. No. IN102908.