Synthesis, spectroscopic and luminescence properties of Ga-doped γ-AlO.

Gallium-doped aluminum oxide (AlGa)O with γ-AlO (spinel) structure has been synthesized by the precursor method using the formate AlGa(OH)(HCOO) as a precursor. The examination of AlGa(OH)(HCOO) (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) was carried out by X-ray powder diffraction, Infrared, Raman spectroscopy and differential-thermal methods. The solid solutions γ-(AlGa)O with х≤0.2 have been synthesized by thermolysis of precursors in helium atmosphere at 700 °C; they exhibit white-blue emission under UV excitation, whose intensity lowers with increasing dopant concentration. As an independent method, the DFT calculations confirmed thermodynamically the stability field of γ-(AlGa)O solid solutions and the NMR data on relative abundance of Al and Ga within the tetrahedral and octahedral sites in the metal sublattice. Furthermore, the structural and thermodynamic properties of carbon-containing impurities within these compounds were suggested theoretically as possible models of luminescence emission centers. The experimentally observed Ga-dependent quenching of luminescence was explained using the competition between C2p and Ga4p states within the band gap of γ-AlO.