Effects Of Crystallite Grain Size On The Triboluminescent Emmision For EuD4TEA

¹Alabama A&M University, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics P.O. Box 1268, Normal, Alabama 35762, USA

²University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Department of Physics, P.O. Box 44210, Lafayette, LA 70504,USA

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2013, Current Issue, 4 (8), pp 605-609

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2012.12486

Publication Date (Web): Jul 13, 2013

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: rsfontenot@hotmail.com

Abstract

One of the brightest tested triboluminescent materials is europium dibenzoylmethide triethylammonium (EuD₄TEA). In 2011, the authors discovered that synthesizing EuD₄TEA using europium nitrate instead of chloride significantly increased the triboluminescence yield. In 2012, the authors discovered that anhydrous ethanol is not the best solvent to be used for synthesizing EuD4TEA. The less expensive acetone increases the triboluminescence and makes the synthesis much easier. However, no study has ever been done on how increasing the crystal size of EuD₄TEA changes its triboluminescence. This paper reports the effect of increasing crystal size on the triboluminescence of EuD₄TEA. The results indicate that acetone can be used to successfully control the grain size of EuD₄TEA and thus increase the amount of triboluminescence emitted. The normalized TL yield is seen to be directly proportional to the square of the average grain size. The fluorescence decay time remains unchanged with an average value of 534.5 ± 7.3 µs, with no change in the emission properties of EuD₄TEA.

Keywords

Triboluminescence, mechanoluminescence, europium dibenzoylmethide triethylammonium, EuD4TEA, europium tetrakis.