Hydrothermal synthesis and fluorescence of YF3:Eu3+

Europium (III)-doped YF3 is prepared by a hydrothermal process at 200 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern identifies the formation of YF3 phase without detectable impurity. Environment scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) image shows the even size distribution of the samples with cubic morphology. The excitation and emission spectra of the rare earth ions doped YF3 are investigated by fluorescence spectrophotometer. The excitation spectrum for 591 nm emission has several excitation bands at 320, 365, 386, 397 and 467 nm, and the main peak value was 397 nm. Typical Eu3+ emission peaks at 591 nm (5D0 → 7F1) and 612 nm (5D0 → 7F2) are observed when excited by 397 nm, and the strongest emission is 591 nm, demonstrating that the rare earth ions occupy the centrosymmetrical sites in YF3.