Hybrid precursors synthesis and optical properties of LnNbO4:Bi3+ blue phosphors and Bi3+ sensitizing of on Dy3+'s luminescence in YNbO4 matrix

In this paper, Bi3+ doped with LnNbO4:Bi3+ (Ln = La, Gd and Y) and YNbO4:Bi3+, Dy3+ phosphors have been synthesized by a modified chemical co-precipitation process with hybrid precursors. Their micromorphology and particle sizes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The photoluminescence data for LnNbO4:Bi3+ indicated that the emission peak positions for Bi3+ showed red-shifts comparing to that of NbO43− for undoped LnNbO4 hosts. Besides this, it was found that Bi ion can enhance the emission intensity of Dy3+ in YNbO4 host lattice when the Bi ion concentration is lower than 3 mol%. Moreover, the influence of Bi3+ concentration on the luminescent properties of YNbO4 was examined, which shows that the optimum concentration was 1 mol% and concentration quenching occurred.