A study of the luminescence in near UV-pumped red-emitting novel Eu3+-doped Ba3Ca3(PO4)4 phosphors for white light emitting diodes

► Novel red luminescent Ba3Ca3(PO4)4:Eu3+ phosphors were synthesized. ► The single phase orthophosphates with the size of 40-65 nm were obtained. ► The optimized composition of phosphors was found to be 5 at.% of Eu3+. ► A slight red shift in the band gap values was observed.