Transparent perovskite-based nanoceramics elaborated from full glass crystallization

All-inorganic perovskite nanocrystals are considered promising candidates for applications in optoelectronics including light-emitting diodes (LEDs), phosphors, solar cells and photodetectors, <i>etc</i>. However, all-inorganic perovskite nanocrystals mainly exist in the form of powders and single crystals. The former often suffers from limited chemical stability and large dependence on matrix materials, while the latter typically involves long-term and complex preparation processes. In this paper, we report the successful synthesis of a transparent GdAlO₃ (GdAP)-based perovskite nanocrystalline ceramic for the first time using a low-temperature (1000 °C) glass crystallization of 74 mol% Al₂O₃-26 mol% Gd₂O₃ bulk glass. And, among which the bulk glass is prepared by a containerless solidification process. The resulting ceramics exhibit a biphasic nanostructure composed of GdAP main phase (76.9 wt%) and Al₂O₃ secondary phase (23.1 wt%). The fully dense GdAP-Al₂O₃ nanoceramics demonstrate a good transmittance of 77%@780 nm and an excellent mechanical property (hardness is 24 GPa). When doped with Tb³⁺, the transparent Tb:GdAP-Al₂O₃ perovskite nanocrystalline ceramics can be efficiently excited under ultraviolet radiation at 369 nm to emit green fluorescence at 544 nm. Moreover, XEL spectra show that the luminous intensity of transparent 7%Tb:GdAP-Al₂O₃ perovskite nanocrystalline ceramic is approximately 4.5 times higher than that of the commercial BGO single crystal. Additionally, the light yield of transparent 7%Tb:GdAP-Al₂O₃ perovskite nanocrystalline ceramics is calculated to be approximately 45 000 ph per MeV. Therefore, the transparent GdAP-Al₂O₃ perovskite nanocrystalline ceramics presented in this paper exhibit good transmittance, excellent mechanical properties, and promising X-ray detection performance, demonstrating wide potential applications in a wide range of optical fields, including optical windows, lenses, scintillators, X-ray detection imaging, and phosphors.