Spherical core-shell structured nanophosphors on the basis of europium-doped lutetium compounds.

Crystalline Lu(2)O(3):Eu(3+) nanolayers with a europium content from 1 to 10 at.% were immobilized onto amorphous SiO(2) submicrospheres by a sol-gel technique, forming monodisperse SiO(2)/Lu(2)O(3):Eu(3+) core-shell structured nanophosphors. The nanostructure, morphology and composition of the core-shell particles obtained were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques.