Synthesis of europium-doped calcium silicate hydrate via hydrothermal and coprecipitation method

In this paper, calcium silicate hydrate doped with various amounts of Eu (Eu–CSH) via hydrothermal and coprecipitation methods have been systematically investigated. The hydrothermal method produced xonotlite while coprecipitation gave 11 Å tobermorite. Regardless of the synthesis method, incorporation of Eu inhibited the crystallite growth and particle size of the as-synthesized powders, while increasing their thermal stability. In both phases, Eu3+ was found to occupy the cation sites in preference to Ca2+. Comparing both synthesis methods, the hydrothermally synthesized powders were of higher crystallinity and thermal stability than the powders prepared by coprecipitation. Moreover, Eu–CSH powder by hydrothermal exhibited stronger photoluminescence intensity than the one by coprecipitation, primarily attributed to its higher degree of crystallinity. Thus, they showed higher potential for nanomedicine application where a combination of biocompatibility and light emission is desired.