Investigation on luminescence properties of Er3+-Yb3+-Tm3+ co-doped Gd2O3 hollow microspheres

The Gd2O3 hollow microspheres have been successfully fabricated via carbonaceous polysaccharide microspheres as templates and urea as a precipitating agent, which involved the deposition of an inorganic coating on the surface of carbon microsphere, followed by heat treated 800 degrees C for 4h. The obtained high uniform Gd2O3 microspheres with a spherical shape and hollow structure are uniform in size and distribution. The possible mechanism of evolution from glucose to carbonaceous polysaccharide microspheres and the chemical reaction of each step to form the final hollow spheres are proposed. The rare earth ion Ln(3+) doped Gd2O3 (Ln = Er, Yb and Tm) hollow microspheres show bright up-conversion luminescence with different colors coming from different activator ions under ultraviolet or 980 nm light excitation, which may open new possibilities to synthesize other hollow spherical materials and extend their applications.