Eu3+-site occupation in CaTiO3 perovskite material at low temperature

In order to clarify the site occupancy of rare-earth ions in rare-earth doped perovskite materials, the un-doped pure CaTiO3 and Eu3+-doped CaTiO3 samples with a series of Ca/Ti ratio were synthesized via high-temperature solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) powder patterns confirm that the crystal structure keeps invariant at various Ca/Ti ratios. Measurement results of unit-cell parameters and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicate that Eu3+ ions enter into the Ca2+ site. The high-resolution photoluminescence spectra of Eu3+ ions at 20 K in all samples did not witness a significant change under the excitation at different wavelength, implying that Eu3+ ions occupy only one type of site. Considering the small spectral splitting range of 5D0 → 7F2 transition and the large intensity ratio of 5D0 → 7F2/5D0 → 7F1, it can be concluded that Eu3+ occupies Ca2+ site with larger coordinate numbers rather than Ti4+ site. •Well-crystallized Eu3+-doped perovskite materials CaTiO3 with a series of Ca/Ti ratio were synthesized.•The luminescence of Eu3+ in all samples does not witness a significant change under different wavelength excitation.•It is more likely for Eu3+ to occupy the Ca2+ site and the occupancy of Eu3+ ions is independent of Ca/Ti ratio.