Effect of surfactant on the preparation of nano-powder for Yb doping laser transparent YAG ceramic

Abstract

Yb:YAG transparent ceramic nano-powder was prepared by chemical co-precipitation method, with ammonium bicarbonate as the precipitant and polyethylene glycol as surfactant. The addition of polyethylene glycol can reduce the agglomeration and particle size of the prepared Yb:YAG powder. The morphology, thermal stability and phase structure of Yb:YAG nano-powder were charactered by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results show that well-crystallized nano-powder was obtained by calcining the precursors at 900 C for 3 h. The average particle size of Yb:YAG powder is about 100-200 nm. When the volume amount of polyethylene glycol is 2.0%, well-dispersed Yb:YAG powder with spherical particles of 100 nm diameter was obtained. © [2013] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston 2013.