Preparation, characterization and VUV luminescence property of YPO4:Tb phosphor for a PDP

Green-emitting phosphor YPO4:Tb used in a PDP was prepared by two different methods, i.e., conventional solid-state reaction route and solution-based co-precipitation route. Results indicated that in solution-based co-precipitation route, a lower temperature was required, no grinding and milling processes were introduced, and the starting materials were mixed at molecular level, compared with conventional solid-state reaction route. Therefore, the phosphor particles obtained from solution-based co-precipitation route had several advantages in the morphology, such as excellent surface quality, almost spherical shape, narrow size distribution, and homogeneous composition. The excitation spectrum measurement showed that YPO4 hosts had high energy absorption in VUV range, which makes it possible that YPO4:Tb phosphors are used in a PDP. The emission spectrum of YPO4:Tb under 147 nm excitation indicated that the phosphor powders obtained from solution-based co-precipitation route had high luminance since they have excellent morphologies and homogeneous composition, compared with those obtained from conventional solid-state reaction route.