Novel YNbO4:RE3+ (RE = Sm, Dy, Er) microcrystalline phosphors: Chemical co-precipitation synthesis from hybrid precursor and photoluminescent properties

In this paper, a novel modified in situ chemical coprecipitation technology was put forward and firstly achieved the synthesis of a series of novel microcrystalline phosphors: YNbO4:RE3+ (RE = Sm, Tb, Er). Among rare earth coordination polymers were adopted as precursors for the rare earth oxides sources, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was introduced to form the hybrid polymeric systems with rare earth coordination polymers. Together with other functional components such as ammonia to adjust pH value, the multicomponent hybrid precursors were composed by in situ coprecipitation process. After the calcination, YNbO4:RE3+ phosphors were characterized with XRD and SEM with the particle sizes were in the range of 0.5–3 μm. The photoluminescence properties of YNbO4:RE3+ phosphors were compared to investigate as a function of activated RE3+ ions’ concentration, which revealed they exhibit apparent characteristic luminescence 4G5/2 to 6H5/2,7/2,9/2 for Sm3+, 4F9/2 to 6H15/2,13/2,11/2 for Dy3+ and 2H11/2 (4S3/2) → 4I15/2 for Er3+ under ultraviolet excitation. The photoluminescent intensities of the three series phosphors were compared with the different doping concentration and no quenching effect was found in the range of concentrations in this research. Besides this, strong emission for charge-transfer-band of NbO43− can be also checked.