White‐ and blue‐light‐emitting dysprosium(III) and terbium(III)‐doped gadolinium titanate phosphors

Here we report the synthesis and structural, morphological, and photoluminescence analysis of white‐ and blue‐light‐emitting Dy 3 + ‐ and Tm 3 + ‐doped Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 nanophosphors. Single‐phase cubic Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 nanopowders consist of compact, dense aggregates of nanoparticles with an average size of ~25 nm for Dy 3 + ‐doped and ~50 nm for Tm 3 + ‐doped samples. The photoluminescence results indicated that ultraviolet (UV) light excitation of the Dy 3 + ‐doped sample resulted in direct generation of white light, while a dominant yellow emission was obtained under blue‐light excitation. Intense blue light was obtained for Tm 3 + ‐doped Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 under UV excitation suggesting that this material could be used as a blue phosphor.