Preparation and Characterization of Eu:YAG Nanocrystals

Yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) is an extensively used solid-state laser host material. In the present work, Eu doped YAG nanocrystals were synthesized by low temperature glycol route technique. This method  consist of a mixture of nitrates in an aqueous media. High purity nitrates were used for the preparation of the nanocrystals. Single phase YAG nanocrystals were synthesized by mixture of inorganic salts.In the first approach the metal ions generated by dissolving metal nitrates in acetic acid and water, were complexes by ethylene glycol to obtain the precursors for pure and doped YAG nanocrystals .Single phase YAG nanocrystalline material obtained at 850 ° C .This temperature is much lower compare to other similar techniques used for preparing nanoparticles. Eu doping concentration was optimized and kept 2 at. %  in the present work. The doped material so formed was annealed at different   temperatures. The prepared nanocrystals were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDAX and FTIR techniques to establish the size and structure. Keywords- nanocrystals, garnet, X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction.