Synthesis and mechanoluminescent property of (Eu2+, Dy3+)-co-doped strontium aluminate phosphor by soft mechanochemistry-assisted solid-state method

(Eu 2+ , Dy 3+ )-co-doped strontium aluminate (SrAl 2 O 4 :Eu 2+ , Dy 3+ ) powder as a mechanoluminescent (ML) phosphor was synthesized via soft mechanochemical pretreatment of precursor mixtures in a stirred media mill and subsequent calcination . Effect of soft mechanochemical pretreatment of precursors on the synthesis process as well as the photoluminescent (PL) and ML properties of SrAl 2 O 4 :Eu 2+ , Dy 3+ phosphor was investigated. The precursor mixtures unground and ground at different time and the resultant phosphors were characterized by laser particle size analysis , X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry , Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and optical property measurement. The results reveal that soft mechanochemical pretreatment of precursor mixture promotes the crystal growth, and reduces the subsequent calcination temperature. SrAl 2 O 4 :Eu 2+ , Dy 3+ phosphor can be obtained via calcining at 1200 °C for precursor mixture ground at 60 min, but formed via calcining at 1400 °C for unground precursor mixture. The phosphor synthesized with precursor mixture ground at 60 min has the maximum PL and ML intensities due to the enhancement of Eu 2+ and Dy 3+ ions into the crystal lattice to form more electron traps . The measurements by a designed ML instrument indicate that the ML intensity increases with increasing impact stress, and decreases with multiple applications of the same impact stress on phosphor disks.