Laser-induced luminescence in reduced copper-exchanged Y zeolite

Copper-exchanged sodium Y zeolites exhibit broad-band emission under 240 nm laser photoexcitation. A kinetic study of the decay of the luminescence spectrum reveals three components with contributions which depend on the thermal pretreatment of the sample, dehydration or reduction in hydrogen. identification of two of the emitting centres as Cu+ sites indicates that autoreduction accompanies dehydration. Prolonged reduction in hydrogen diminishes the concentration of these species.