Structural, Morphological and Optical Study of Bismuth and Zinc Co-Doped Yttrium Oxide Prepared by Solvothermal and Wet Chemical Method

Yttrium oxide (Y2O3) is the most familiar yttrium compound, which is popularly known as host for ion doping of other rare earth elements. Bismuth ion (Bi3+) is well known as an activator and sensitizer in several particular phosphors. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanomaterial, having a wide band gap, is one of the promising candidates for general illumination applications due to its high optical transparency and color tenability bismuth (Bi) and zinc (Zn) co-doped Y2O3 samples are synthesized by simple precipitation techniques like solvothermal and wet chemical methods. The prepared samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectra, ultraviolet-visible absorbance spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectrophotometry. Ultraviolet-visible absorption studies showed absorption only around 340 nm whereas photoluminescence shows peaks around 500 nm, 680 nm, and 1020 nm for Bi and Zn co-doped Y2O3. The photoluminescence spectrum shows emission in blue region (500 nm) due to Zn dopant and red and near infrared region (680 and 1020 nm) due to Bi dopant. This is a new material which can effectively work as an efficient and cheap red phosphor.