Synthesis and luminescence in sol–gel auto-combustion-synthesized $\hbox {CaSnO}_{3}{:}\hbox {Eu}^{3+}$ phosphor

Abstract

Undoped and Eu-doped $\hbox {CaSnO}_{3}$ nanopowders were prepared by a facile sol–gel auto-combustion method calcined at $800{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}$ for 1 h. The samples are found to be well-crystallized pure orthorhombic $\hbox {CaSnO}_{3}$ structure. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements indicated that the undoped sample exhibits a broad blue emission at about 420–440 nm, which can be recognized from an intrinsic centre or centres in $\hbox {CaSnO}_{3}$. Eu-doped $\hbox {CaSnO}_{3}$ showed broad blue emission centred about 434 nm, a weak peak at 465 nm and a sharp intense yellow emission line at 592 nm. The emission situated at 592 nm was assigned to the f–f transition of $^{5}\hbox {D}_{0}\rightarrow ^{7}\hbox {F}_{1}$ in $\hbox {Eu}^{3+}$ ions. The afterglow emission and PL decay results in Eu-doped $\hbox {CaSnO}_{3}$ phosphor, which revealed that there are at least two different traps in this phosphor. From the obtained results, $\hbox {Eu}^{3+}$-doped $\hbox {CaSnO}_{3}$ phosphor could be proposed as a potential white luminescent optical material.