A co-precipitation preparation, crystal structure and photoluminescent properties of Er5%:Gd₂O₃ nanorods

An inexpensive preparation method is being reported for obtaining erbium doped gadolinium oxide (Er5%:Gd₂O₃) nanoscale rods. The elongated nanoscale systems, as-formed through a co-precipitation process, are characterized by using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping, Ultra Violet-visible (UV-vis.) absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. In addition, the Williamson–Hall (W–H) plot is also performed to distinguish the effect of crystalline size-induced broadening and strain-induced broadening at full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the XRD profile. The XRD patterns of as-formed and calcined products show that the phase confirmation. As revealed from the SEM micrographs, the morphology of the products show that the rod-like nanoparticles. The EDX micrographs show that the presence of elements in our samples. The band gap values in calcined samples are found to be in the range of 3.569 eV. Upon 230 nm excitation on calcined samples, three broad emission peaks are observed from PL studies. The possible mechanism for the formation of Er5%:Gd₂O₃ nanorods is briefly discussed