Photoluminescence of transparent strontium–barium–niobate-doped silica nanocomposites

Abstract

Optically transparent nanocomposites of strontium–barium–niobate (SBN) and silica were fabricated via a novel sol–gel method. The nanocomposites were annealed in temperatures of 600–800 °C to yield the nanometer-sized tetragonal tungsten–bronze phase of SBN crystallites. Photoluminescence studies at temperatures from 10 K to room temperature were performed. The undoped silica matrix showed a strong emission band at 3.2 eV and a weak emission band at 2.65 eV. They were noticeably suppressed in our SBN/SiO₂ nanocomposites. Extra sharp peaks on top of the 3.2 eV band were seen. An additional emission band at 2.3 eV due to transitions within the NbO₆ complex of SBN crystallites was also observed. This emission band showed a large blueshift with decreasing SBN crystallite size. This demonstrates that the photoluminescence spectra of ferroelectric-doped silica nanocomposites have a strong dependence on crystallite size.