Synthesis of rare-earth nanosized phosphors using microwave processing

Nanomaterials find permanently extending applications in various areas of life. In particular, nanosized phosphors can be used as pharmaceutical carriers capable of emitting ultraviolet or visible light that activates a photosensitizer, thus significantly expanding the possibilities of photodynamic therapy in the treatment of oncological, bacterial and viral diseases. The conditions required for the use of nanosized phosphors in medicine include their fine dispersion and effective luminescence in the red region of visible light spectrum upon stimulation by X-ray radiation of the range accepted for medical applications, particularly for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in many diseases. The aim of this work was to study the effect of microwave treatment of Y 2 O 3 :Eu phosphors prepared by hydrothermal synthesis in ethylene glycol at 230 °C for 6 hours, involving the decomposition of mixed acetate. In order to reduce the aggregation and growth of the resulting particles, Aerosil A300 with average particle size 7 nm was added to the reaction mixture in the course of hydrothermal synthesis in the ratio 1:1 relating to the obtained phosphor. The microwave treatment was carried out at 800 °C for 5 minutes. The developed method provided Y 2 O 3 :Eu phosphor samples featuring with increased luminescence intensity in the region 610…700 nm compared to similar phosphors earlier prepared using the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) procedure.