Strong luminescence enhancement of YVO4:Eu3+,Ba2+ phosphors prepared by a solvothermal method

It was known that Ba2+ doping can largely enhance the luminescence of lanthanide doped YVO4 phosphors. In this work, we employed a solvothermal method to prepare Eu3+,Ba2+ codoped YVO4 submicron-crystalline phosphors, and investigated the effect of Eu3+,Ba2+ codoping concentrations on the luminescence of the YVO4:Eu3+,Ba2+ phosphors. Both strong luminescence enhancement and quenching behaviors as a result of the Eu3+,Ba2+ codpoing have been observed in the YVO4:Eu3+,Ba2+ phosphors. It was found that Ba2+ dopants not only greatly enhanced the VO43- to Eu3+ charge transfer intensity, but also largely improved the 7F0,1 → 5L6 and 7F0,1 → 5D2 direct excitation intensity of the Eu3+ ions. Upon thermal annealing, an enormous enhancement in the luminescence has been observed for the YVO4:Eu3+,Ba2+ phosphors. The strong effects of Ba2+ dopants on the luminescence of both the as-prepared and the annealed YVO4:Eu3+,Ba2+ phosphors have been studied in detail. These results will provide a useful basis for further improving the luminescence performance of lanthanide doped YVO4 phosphors.

► YVO4:Eu3+,Ba2+ phosphors were synthesized by a low temperature solvothermal method.
► Both luminescence enhancement and quenching behaviors have been observed in the YVO4:Eu3+,Ba2+ phosphors.
► An enormous enhancement in the luminescence has been observed for YVO4:Eu3+,Ba2+ upon annealing.