On the sol-gel preparation of selected lanthanide aluminium garnets doped with europium

A sol-gel method based on in-situ generation of mixed-metal chelates by complexing metal ions with ethane-1,2-diol in an aqueous media has been elaborated to prepare lanthanide-ion containing garnets, Tb3Al5O12 (TAG), Dy3Al5O12 (DAG) and Ho3Al5O12 (HAG) doped with different amount of Eu. The X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) of the powders sintered at 1000 °C showed the formation of monophasic TAG, DAG and HAG. The phase composition of the samples was also characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. Microstructural features of the polycrystalline samples were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dynamic light scattered measurements (DLS). Luminescence properties were investigated by laser and fluorescence spectrophotometer.