Crystalline structure dependence of luminescent properties of Eu3+-activated Y2O3–Al2O3 system phosphors

Eu3+ doped Y3Al5O12 (YAG), YAlO3 (YAP) and Y4Al2O9 (YAM) nanophosphors were prepared by solvothermal reaction method. The structural properties were studied by using their XRD measurements and the luminescent properties of these phosphors were investigated by the measurement of their excitation and emission spectra along with their decay curves. The relationship between the structures and the photoluminescence properties of the phosphors has been studied. The emission spectrum of Eu3+ doped YAG phosphor is dominated by orange emission due to 5D0 → 7F1 transition with inversion symmetry. However, the emission spectrum of Eu3+ doped YAP phosphor is dominated by red emission due to 5D0 → 7F2 transition without inversion symmetry. The PL spectrum of Eu3+ doped YAM phosphor consists of similar emission intensities for both 5D0 → 7F1 (590 nm) and 5D0 → 7F2 (607 nm) transitions.