Photoluminescence behaviour of cerium activated yttrium aluminium garnet intercalated PMMA composite thin films

In this study, 0.04 mol cerium (Ce) doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Y₃Al₅O₁₂) nano phosphor particles were synthesized by co-precipitation. It was evaluated that precursor of Ce doped YAG (Ce:YAG) calcined at 1250 °C for 4 h had a mean size of ~80 nm and whereas sample calcined for 12 h had a mean size of ~260 nm. Mean size and morphology of the nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. These Ce:YAG nanoparticles of two different sizes were suspended in PMMA and coated by airbrush method on the glass substrates of different grades of surface roughness. Photoluminescence (PL) behavior of these PMMA-Ce:YAG composite thin films was investigated and maximum emission intensity was observed in the samples having thickness 2.28–3.97 µm and 1.21–2.50 µm for 4 h and 12 h, respectively. It was found that the maximum PL emission intensity was noted at 523 nm for 2.7 µm thick coating having nanoparticles of mean size ~80 nm (calcined for 4 h) with spherical morphology. The surface roughness of coating was found to be 0.217 µm. The adhesion strength of PMMA-Ce:YAG film on glass substrate was investigated by pull off adhesion test technique and its estimated value was 1.13 MPa.