Europium-doped silica–titania thin films obtained by the sol–gel method

Abstract Synthesis of europium (III)-doped SiO 2 –TiO 2 films by the sol–gel method for optical applications has been described. The obtained hybrids have been synthesized from tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and titanium butoxide (TNBT). The lanthanide ions have been incorporated into the liquid silica–titania solution. Eu 3+ has been used as an emission center in the luminescent materials. The transparent thin films of the europium-doped binary mixed oxides have been obtained by the spin-coating technique on quartz glass substrates. The samples have been characterized by the FT-IR and XPS spectroscopies. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra (the Eu 3+ emission lines 5 D 0  →  7 F J ; J  = 0, … , 4) and the luminescence decays have been recorded at room temperature.