Luminescence properties of Li+ doped nanosized SnO2:Eu

The influence of lithium doping on the crystallization behavior, morphology, and enhancement in photoluminescence intensity of SnO2:Eu was investigated. In order to attain high homogeneous and pure samples, the Pechini type sol–gel method was adopted for the synthesis at low temperature (500 °C). The structure and morphology were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results indicate that the Li+ doping could accelerate the crystallization of SnO2 and the particle size of the phosphors is below 100 nm. In particularly, the incorporation of Li+ ions into SnO2 lattice could induce a remarkable increase of photoluminescence intensity.