ABSTRACT
This contribution reports on the optical properties of biosynthesised Eu2O3 nanoparticles bioengineered for the first time by a green and cost effective method using aqueous fruit extracts of Hyphaene thebaica as an effective chelating and capping agent. The morphological, structural, and optical properties of the samples annealed at 500°C were confirmed by using a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM), x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), UV-Vis spectrocopy, and photoluminescence spectrometer. The XRD results confirmed the characteristic body-centered cubic (bcc) structure of Eu2O3 nanoparticles with an average size of 20 nm. HR-TEM revealed square type morphology with an average size of â¼6nm. Electron dispersion energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy spectrum confirmed the elemental single phase nature of pure Eu2O3. Furthuremore, the Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy revealed the intrinsic characteristic peaks of Eu-O bond stretching vibrations. UV-Vis reflectance proved that Eu2O3 absorbs in a wide range of the solar spectrum from the VUV-UV region with a bandgap of 5.1 eV. The luminescence properties of such cubic structures were characterized by an intense red emission centered at 614 nm. It was observed that the biosynthesized Eu2O3 nanoparticles exhibit an efficient red-luminescence and hence a potential material as red phosphor.
