Luminescence and Cationic-Size-Driven Site Selection of Eu³⁺ and Ce³⁺ Ions in Ca₈Mg(SiO₄)₄Cl₂

In this work, the morphology, composition, crystal, and electronic structure of Ca8Mg­(SiO4)4Cl2 (CMSOC) prepared by a high-temperature solid-state reaction technique are characterized first. To investigate the site occupancies of Eu3+ and Ce3+ in CMSOC, the emission spectra under well-chosen wavelength excitations and the corresponding excitation spectra by monitoring of the specific wavelength emissions are measured in detail for singly doped samples with different concentrations. Two kinds of Eu3+ or Ce3+ luminescence spectra are found. On the basis of the chemical environments of two Ca2+ sites and dielectric chemical bond theory, the sites of these two kinds of Eu3+ and Ce3+ luminescence spectra are respectively assigned. Because energy transfer between the two types of luminescent centers, concentration-dependent emission-wavelength shifting, and luminescence concentration quenching are negligible, the emission spectra of Eu3+ and Ce3+ give us a hint of their occupation preferences on two Ca2+ sites. The results indicate that, with an increase of the doping concentration, the Eu3+ ions with smaller cationic size show an occupation preference on the smaller Ca2+(1) sites, but the Ce3+ ions with larger cationic size are inclined to enter the larger Ca2+(2) sites. These opposite occupation preferences of Eu3+ and Ce3+ in CMSOC are thought to be the cationic-size-driven site selection