Applied Surface Science 258 (2011) 18881893

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Applied Surface Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apsusc

Encapsulating MAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ (M = Sr, Ca, Ba) phosphors with triethanolamine
to enhance water resistance
Ping Ting Ji, Xiang Ying Chen , Ye Qin Wu
School of Chemical Engineering, Anhui Key Laboratory of Controllable Chemistry Reaction & Material Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui 230009,
PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Traditional aluminates phosphors with persistent luminescence are chemically unstable to water or
Received 21 August 2011 moisture. Thus, how to improve the water-resistance of these phosphors is becoming a key issue in their
Received in revised form practical applications. In this work, a series of alkaline earth aluminate phosphors including MAl2 O4 :Eu2+ ,
29 September 2011
Dy3+ (M = Sr, Ca, Ba) have been prepared by a co-precipitation synthesis and postannealing approach,
Accepted 18 October 2011
using 8-hydroxyquinoline and sodium oxalate as precipitants. The samples before and after encapsula-
Available online 23 October 2011
tion were well characterized by means of XRPD, FESEM, FT-IR, TGA-DTG and PL techniques as well as
water resistance measurements. The precipitants involved can react with Al3+ and Sr2+ (or Ca2+ , Ba2+ ) to
Keywords:
Aluminate phosphors
form complex compounds in aqueous solution, which further convert into porous phosphors by postan-
Encapsulation nealing method under reducing atmosphere. Next, triethanolamine encapsulation at room temperature
Triethanolamine was conducted onto their surfaces to improve the water resistance. The results reveal that the encapsu-
Water resistance lation of aluminate phosphors with triethanolamine can effectively enhance the water resistance, and
Co-precipitation minimally affect on persistent phosphorescence.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction interspersion of the elements in the precursor. Consequently, the

As is well known, alkaline earth aluminates doped with Eu2+ ,
Dy3+ have attracted great attention as an emitting phosphor with
high brightness and persistent phosphorescence [1,2]. The lumi-
nescence of Eu2+ -doped alkaline earth aluminates originates from
the electronic transitions between the ground state of 4f7 and the
excited state of 4f6 5d1 of Eu2+ ions [3]. Taking the SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ ,
Dy3+ , CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ and BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphors as
enchanting examples, their maximum emission wavelength pri-
marily locate at em = 520 nm, 440 nm and 496 nm, accompanying
with green, blue and cyangreen color, respectively [4]. To prepare
the aluminate phosphors, various protocols have been developed
so far, in which solid-state method is one of the most popular tech-
niques. Nevertheless, some unavoidable shortcomings towards
this method such as poor homogeneity of components, high cal-
cination temperature and indispensable grinding process occur.
To resolve these problems, many alternative low temperature
preparative strategies have been put forward, mainly including
solgel, microwave and co-precipitation method. Among them,
co-precipitation method is simple and convenient in industrial
chemistry for obtaining crystal particles, and can provide a good
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 0551 2901450; fax: +86 0551 2901450.
E-mail address: cxyhfut@gmail.com (X.Y. Chen).
particles obtained by co-precipitation method have a smaller grain
size and are of higher purity and homogeneity than those fabri-
cated by solid-state method. Generally, ammonium salt [5,6] and
oxalate [7,8] are the most common precipitants employed for co-
precipitation in solution.
On the other hand, one severe drawback towards aluminate
phosphors does exist that they are highly water or moisture
sensitive, which evidently restrict the applications in practice. Tak-
ing monoclinic structure SrAl2 O4 as example, it adopts a stuffed
tridymite-type structure, which consists of corner sharing AlO4
tetrahedra and connect together to form six-membered rings as
channels. These channels have relatively bigger radius and water
molecules can enter easily. Then, the strong polarity of HOH
breaks the OSrO bonds easily and destroys the phosphor crystal
structure, commonly resulting in quenching of luminescent prop-
erties. That is to say, SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ can readily hydrolyze
in humid environment, especially in aqueous solution [9]. Thus,
how to improve the water-resistance of persistent phosphors has
been becoming a key issue in their practical applications. Up to
the present, scientists have proposed two kinds of encapsulation
methods, commonly involving inorganic and organic reagents, to
prevent the hydrolysis of phosphors in aqueous solution. The inor-
ganic ones principally include BN [9], SrF2 [10,11], SiO2 [12,13],
pyrophosphoric acid [14], and phosphoric acid [15]; while the
organic ones principally include triethyl phosphate [16], and maleic
anhydride [17]. As a rule, inorganic layers encapsulate phosphors

0169-4332/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.10.098
 P.T. Ji et al. / Applied Surface Science 258 (2011) 18881893 1889

* ** +
$ * +
* +
#
+
+
* # +
* * *

Intensity (a.u.)
** $ * *** *** ++ # # + +
+
(b) * ** * (b) # # + + ++
* ** *
# $ * * ++ # +
Intensity (a.u.)

* *** # # #
* *
* * * +
+ +
# +
* * * * ** + +
#* ** * * ** + + +
(a) *
* ** ** * ** * * + ** +
+ + + +
* * * * ** (a) ++ ** +

10 20 30 40 50 60 70
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
2 (degree)
2 (degree)
Fig. 1. XRPD patterns of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphors before (a) and after (b) being
encapsulated with triethanolamine. Notes: * = hexagonal SrAl2 O4 (JCPDS Card No. Fig. 3. XRPD patterns of BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphors before (a) and after (b) being
34-0379); # = cubic SrAl2 O4 (JCPDS Card No. 40-0025); $ = anorthic Al(OH)3 (JCPDS encapsulated with triethanolamine. Notes: + = hexagonal BaAl2 O4 (JCPDS Card 17-
Card No. 72-0623). 0306); # = monoclinic -Ba(OH)2 (JCPDS Card 44-0585); * = unidentied peaks.

by precipitation, while organic layers cover phosphors through
coordination combination. However, as much as we know, there
are few reports on encapsulating aluminate phosphors with tri-
ethanolamine to enhance water-resistance.
Recently, we prepared a series of MAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ (M = Sr,
Ca, Ba) phosphors by hydrothermal and Pechini-type solgel
approach [18,19]. As the extension of these works, we herein use
8-hydroxyquinoline and sodium oxalate as precipitants to prepare
aluminate phosphors by a co-precipitation synthesis and postan-
nealing approach. It should be noted that triethanolamine, for the
rst time, was chosen as encapsulation reagent for phosphors to
improve the water-resistance. Besides, photoluminescent proper-
ties before and after encapsulation were briey studied by emission
technique.
& for ca. 3 h at room temperature, the above precipitates was ltered,
% &
& &
& reducing atmosphere (20% H2 + 80% Ar) at 1100 C for 3 h to obtain
&
$ &
Intensity (a.u.)
2. Experimental
All chemicals are of analytical grades and used as received
without further purication. The water-resistance measurements
were carried out by simply adjusting the dosage of triethanolamine
(0.5 mL, 1.0 mL and 1.5 mL) at room temperature.
2.1. Typical procedure for preparing SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor
by a co-precipitation synthesis and postannealing approach
According to the nominal composition of SrAl2 O4 :Eu0.01 2+ ,
Dy0.02 3+ , Sr(NO3 )2 (3 mmol), Al(NO3 )3 9H2 O (6 mmol), Eu(NO3 )3
(0.03 mmol), and Dy(NO3 )3 (0.06 mmol) were rst dissolved in
60 mL deionized water to form clear solution. Then, Na2 C2 O4
(3 mmol) pre-dissolved in 20 mL deionized water and 8-
hydroxyquinoline (18 mmol) pre-dissolved in 20 mL absolute
ethanol were poured into the above solution, rapidly giving rising
to yellowish-green precipitates. After being magnetically stirred
washed with distilled water and absolute ethanol for several times,
and then dried under vacuum at 80 C for 10 h. Next, the dry precip-
itates were further postannealed in a horizontal tube furnace under
SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor.

@ & # & & & &

& & & &
& Similarly, CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ and BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phos-
# & &
(b) * $& & & & & & phors were prepared by substituting Sr(NO3 )2 with BaCl2 2H2 O and
& CaCl2 2H2 O, respectively, while keeping other reaction parameters
& unchanged.
&
# 2.2. Typical procedure for encapsulating SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+
& & & phosphor with triethanolamine
&& & & $& && & &
(a) * $& & && & & &&
& SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor (2 g) was added into 20 mL abso-
lute ethanol to form suspension. Then, triethanolamine (1 mL) (75%,
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 w/w) pre-dissolved in 10 mL absolute ethanol was poured into
2 (degree) the above suspension under magnetic stirring at room tempera-
ture, giving pH ca. 1011. Next, certain amounts of HCl (3638%,
Fig. 2. XRPD patterns of CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphors before (a) and after (b) w/w) solution were added dropwise until the nal pH is ca. 12.
being encapsulated with triethanolamine. Notes: & = monoclinic CaAl2 O4 (JCPDS After being aged for another 12 h at room temperature, the sample
Card No. 88-2477); # = monoclinic CaAl4 O7 (JCPDS Card No. 23-1037); $ = cubic was ltered and washed with absolute ethanol for several times.
Ca12 Al14 O33 (JCPDS Card No. 09-0413); * = hexagonal CaAl13.2 O20.8 (JCPDS Card No.
48-0539); % = orthorhombic CaCO3 (JCPDS Card No. 41-1475); @ = orthorhombic
Finally, the encapsulated SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor emerges
AlO(OH) (JCPDS Card No. 21-1307). with vacuum-drying treatment at 80 C for 10 h.
1890 P.T. Ji et al. / Applied Surface Science 258 (2011) 18881893
Fig. 4. FESEM images of the phosphors before encapsulation: (a and b) SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ ; (c and d) CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ ; (e and f) BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ .
2.3. Characterization
X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) patterns were obtained on a
Field emis-
Rigaku Max-2200 with Cu K radiation ( = 1.54178 A).
sion scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images were taken
with a Hitachi S-4800 scanning electron microscope. Fourier trans-
form infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy were recorded with an IR
spectrometer (Model EQUINOX55, Bruker Co. Germany) using KBr
disks. Thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA) measurement was car-
ried out using TG 209 F3 Tarsus (Netzsch). Photoluminescent (PL)
analysis was conducted on a Hitachi F-4500 spectrophotometer
equipped with Xe lamp at room temperature.
3. Results and discussion
We rst investigated the reaction system containing Sr(NO3 )2 ,
Al(NO3 )3 9H2 O, Na2 C2 O4 and 8-hydroxyquinoline as the starting
materials with designated mole ratio of 1:2:1:6. The corresponding
product obtained by a co-precipitation synthesis and postannealing
approach is basically composed of hexagonal SrAl2 O4 (JCPDS Card
No. 34-0379), coexisting with minor cubic SrAl2 O4 (JCPDS Card No.
40-0025), as shown in Fig. 1a. To probe into the water-resistance of
SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor, certain amount of triethanolamine
was encapsulated onto the surface. Considering the slight hydrol-
ysis of aluminate phosphor in aqueous solution, some relevant
substances are usually expected to come forth after being encapsu-
lated. In consequence, few diffraction peaks assignable to anorthic
Al(OH)3 (JCPDS Card No. 72-0623) appears in SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+
phosphors, and the resultant XRPD pattern is revealed in Fig. 1b.
When treating the reaction system containing CaCl2 2H2 O,
Al(NO3 )3 9H2 O, Na2 C2 O4 and 8-hydroxyquinoline as the starting
materials with designated mole ratio of 1:2:1:6 by a co-
precipitation synthesis and postannealing approach, the resulting
product mainly consists monoclinic CaAl2 O4 (JCPDS Card No. 88-
2477), coexisting with minor monoclinic CaAl4 O7 (JCPDS Card
No. 23-1037), cubic Ca12 Al14 O33 (JCPDS Card No. 09-0413) and
 P.T. Ji et al. / Applied Surface Science 258 (2011) 18881893
(b)
2938
1458
Transmittance %
1400
(a)
1458
4000 3000 2000
-1
Wavenumbers cm
Fig. 5. FT-IR spectra of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor before (a) and after (b) being
encapsulated with triethanolamine.
hexagonal CaAl13.2 O20.8 (JCPDS Card No. 48-0539), as given in
Fig. 2a. After further encapsulating the CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phos-
phor with triethanolamine, some expected substances principally
including orthorhombic CaCO3 (JCPDS Card No. 41-1475) and
orthorhombic AlO(OH) (JCPDS Card No. 21-1307) appear, as
depicted in Fig. 2b.
Similarly, almost pure hexagonal BaAl2 O4 (JCPDS Card 17-0306)
sample can be obtained by treating the reaction system contain-
ing BaCl2 2H2 O, Al(NO3 )3 9H2 O, Na2 C2 O4 and 8-hydroxyquinoline
as the starting materials with designated mole ratio of 1:2:1:6
by a co-precipitation synthesis and postannealing approach, and
the typical XRPD pattern is shown in Fig. 3a. Next, some diffrac-
tion peaks indexed as monoclinic -Ba(OH)2 (JCPDS Card 44-0585)
occur in Fig. 3b when further encapsulating the BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+
phosphor with triethanolamine.
In present co-precipitation synthesis and postannealing
approach, 8-hydroxyquinoline and sodium oxalate were respec-
tively utilized as precipitants to form complex compounds with
Al3+ and Sr2+ (or Ca2+ , Ba2+ ) in aqueous solution. Taking into account
the hydroxyl and carboxyl group involved, many kinds of gaseous
substances such as H2 O and CO2 will release at elevated calcina-
tion temperature. Porous structures are thus expected to appear
towards the nal products. As expected above, all samples before
encapsulation indeed take on porous structure, and their represen-
tative FESEM images are demonstrated in Fig. 4. This kind of porous
features towards MAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ (M = Sr, Ca, Ba) phosphors
were also observed in our very recent work, in which the phosphors
were prepared via a Pechini-type solgel approach, using citric acid
as chelating ligand and H2 O as solvent [19]. As for the phosphors
after encapsulation with triethanolamine, the particles obviously
become more agglomerative and coarser due to the large viscosity
and corrosion of triethanolamine (the corresponding FESEM images
are shown herein).
Meanwhile, the surface properties of the SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ ,
Dy3+ phosphor before and after being encapsulated with tri-
ethanolamine were revealed by the FT-IR spectroscopy. In Fig. 5a,
the characteristic peaks located at ca. 852 cm1 , 786 cm1 ,
648 cm1 and 1458 cm1 for non-encapsulated sample are
assignable to SrAl2 O4 [16]. With respect to the sample encap-
sulated with triethanolamine, the resulting FT-IR spectrum is
displayed in Fig. 5b. We can clearly see that some other char-
acteristic peaks appear except for those assigned to SrAl2 O4 .
1891
In brief, the characteristic peaks at ca. 1000 cm1 , 1040 cm1 ,
1400 cm1 and 2938 cm1 are attributed to  (CN),  (CO),
(CH) and  (CH) of triethanolamine molecule, respectively
[20]. In virtue of the spectra given in Fig. 5, we can conclude
that triethanolamine is bonded to the surface of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ ,
Dy3+ phosphor under present treatment. Meanwhile, similar FT-
IR results occur towards CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ and BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ ,
1040
1000
Dy3+ phosphors before and after being encapsulated with tri-
648
ethanolamine, as shown in Figures S1 and S2, respectively.
786
Due to the lone pairs in nitrogen atom (pKa = 7.8), tri-
852
ethanolamine can readily hydrolyze to produce OH or protonate
in aqueous solution, as shown in Eqs. (1) and (2). Therefore,
when dropping minor amount of HCl solution into the mixture of
SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor and triethanolamine to make the nal
pH ca. 12 in absolute ethanol, protonated triethanolamine comes
648
786
forth, concurrently with the formation of Al(OH)3 , which can push
852
the equilibrium to the forward direction in Eq. (3).
1000 + H2 O  RN+ + OH
RN (1)
+ +
+ H  RN
RN (2)
SrAl2 O4 + H2 O  Sr2+ + 2OH + Al(OH)3 (3)
As illustrated above, we can speculate that one coreshell
structure might come into being towards SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phos-
phor after encapsulation with triethanolamine. Briey, the core
is denitely pure SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor while the shell
is composed of protonated triethanolamine and Al(OH)3 crystals.
Owing to the amorphous nature of protonated triethanolamine,
only Al(OH)3 thus appears as hydrolysis product shown in Fig. 1b.
Besides, the hydroxyl groups of protonated triethanolamine will
combined with the oxygen atoms distributing on the surface of
SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor to form large numbers of hydrogen
bonds, which can markedly tighten the connecting force in the
coreshell boundary.
To further conrm the existence of triethanolamine on the
surface of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor, TGA-DTG measurement
was adopted by designating the test temperature in the range of
40700 C. Evidently, the mass curve in Fig. 6a shows a major
weight loss of ca. 32.5% especially in the temperature range of
250350 C. The DTG curve in Fig. 6b also tells us that the exother-
mic reaction towards SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor encapsulated
with triethanolamine sharply occurs in the vicinity of ca. 272 C.
Besides, all the triethanolamine bonded on the surface eliminate
thoroughly beyond 400 C, which also accords with the fact that
the boiling point of triethanolamine is ca. 335.4 C. In a word, TGA-
DTG curves in Fig. 6 reveal that a portion of triethanolamine sample
indeed exists on the surface of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor. Sim-
ilar TGA-DTG results also occur towards CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ and
BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphors after being encapsulated with tri-
ethanolamine, as shown in Figures S3 and S4, respectively.
As previously mentioned in Introduction section, aluminate
phosphors can readily hydrolyze in humid environment, especially
in aqueous solution. Thus far, several kinds of hydrolysis mecha-
nisms towards SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor in aqueous solution
have been proposed, mainly including [13,17,9,12]:
SrAl2 O4 + H2 O Sr2+ + 2OH + Al(OH)3
SrAl2 O4 + H2 O Sr2+ + 2OH + Al2 O3
3SrAl2 O4 + 6H2 O Sr3 Al2 (OH)12 + 2Al2 O3
Sr3 Al2 (OH)12 [Sr3 Al2 (OH)11 ]+ + OH
1892 P.T. Ji et al. / Applied Surface Science 258 (2011) 18881893

0 13
100
(b) 12 (a)
-5
95
11
-10 90
exothermic

TGA (wt %)
10

pH
-15 32.5% 85 9
(b)
80 8 (d)
-20
(c)
75 7
-25
272 (a) 70 6

-30 0 50 100 150 200

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 t/min
o
Temperature C
Fig. 7. Proles of pH changes as a function of time towards SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phos-
Fig. 6. TGA (a) and DTG (b) curves of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor after being encap- phor before (a) and after (bd) being encapsulated with triethanolamine. Notes: in
sulated with triethanolamine. cases of bd, the dosage of triethanolamine is 0.5 mL, 1.0 mL and 1.5 mL, respectively.

522 438
a1 before encapsulation b1 before encapsulation
(a) (b)
a2 after encapsulation b2 after encapsulation
b1
a1
Intensity (a.u.)

Intensity (a.u.)

b2

a2

400 450 500 550 600 650 400 450 500 550
wavelength (nm) wavelength (nm)

498 c1 before encapsulation

(c) c2 after encapsulation

c1
Intensity (a.u.)

c2

400 450 500 550 600

wavelength (nm)

Fig. 8. Emission spectra of phosphors before and after being encapsulated with triethanolamine: (a) SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ ; (b) CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ ; (b) BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ .
 P.T. Ji et al. / Applied Surface Science 258 (2011) 18881893
Meanwhile, two kinds of encapsulation methods adopting inor-
ganic and organic reagents have been put forward to prevent the
hydrolysis of phosphors.
In present work, to our knowledge, triethanolamine for the
rst time acts as encapsulation reagent towards aluminate
phosphors to enhance the water-resistance. To investigate the
effect of triethanolamine encapsulation for water-resistance, 0.3 g
SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor encapsulated with triethanolamine
was dispersed into 25 mL deionized water. Fig. 7a reveals the pro-
le of pH change as a function of time towards SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ ,
Dy3+ phosphor before encapsulation in aqueous solution at room
temperature, apparently indicating that it can hydrolyze rapidly
and reach pH as high as ca. 12 within 50 min. Interestingly, the
hydrolysis of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor pre-encapsulated with
triethanolamine in aqueous solution is dramatically suppressed
and the corresponding pH values are almost invariable from 6.5
to 7.0 with up to ca. 230 min, as shown in Fig. 7bd. Meanwhile, to
evaluate the amount of triethanolamine used on preventing hydrol-
ysis of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor in aqueous solution, various
dosages including 0.5 mL, 1.0 mL and 1.5 mL were adopted. By care-
ful observation on proles of pH changes as a function of time
displayed in Fig. 7bd, we can gure out that the optimal dosage of
triethanolamine in present work is 1.0 mL towards SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ ,
Dy3+ phosphors (2 g). Similar pH changes as a function of time
towards CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ and BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphors
before and after being encapsulated with triethanolamine also
occur, as shown in Figures S5 and S6, respectively. Given the
excellent water-resistance behavior, simple encapsulation process
and non-elaborate equipment towards aluminate phosphors, the
present encapsulation method aided with triethanolamine could
be extensively applied in practical applications.
To determine the qualitative variation of photoluminescence
properties of phosphors before and after being encapsulated with
triethanolamine, a series of contrast emission spectra were mea-
sured at room temperature. Fig. 8a shows us the typical emission
spectra towards SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor before and after
encapsulation, which are almost the same in shape except for
their intensity discrepancy. Apparently, they can emit green emis-
sion centered at 522 nm, which appears slight blue shift compared
with that of 528 nm prepared at an initiating combustion tem-
perature of 500 C [21] and yet red shift compared with that of
512514 nm prepared via hydrothermal or Pechini-type solgel
method [18,19]. On the other hand, Liu and co-workers [15] once
reported that the amorphous encapsulating layers can enhance
luminescence for phosphors whereas crystalline layers can weaken
it. In present work, a small quantity of Al(OH)3 crystals appear
on the surface of SrAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphor after encapsulation
with triethanolamine, and the corresponding emission intensity
thus decreases due to the shielding effect. Similar photolumi-
nescence results also happen towards CaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ and
BaAl2 O4 :Eu2+ , Dy3+ phosphors, as illustrated in Fig. 8b and c.
1893
4. Conclusions
In summary, a facile co-precipitation synthesis and postan-
nealing approach has been developed to prepare MAl2 O4 :Eu2+ ,
Dy3+ (M = Sr, Ca, Ba) phosphors. More importantly, triethanolamine
was for the rst time chosen as encapsulation reagent for phos-
phor. The experimental results reveal that the water-resistance
was enhanced remarkably after being encapsulated with tri-
ethanolamine while no emission shift occurs compared with the
non-encapsulated phosphors. Besides, the emission intensity of
phosphors decreases to some extent after encapsulation. On the
other hand, the convenient encapsulation for phosphor is relatively
inexpensive and can be carried out at room temperature. It thus
opens up a genuine approach to encapsulate phosphors in practical
applications.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (21101052), Anhui Provincial Natural Science
Foundation (090414194) and China Postdoctoral Science Founda-
tion (20100480045). The authors would gratefully thank Prof. Hong
Ping Zhou at Anhui University for her instructive discussion.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.10.098.
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