Hydrothermal synthesis and luminescent properties of color-tunable Dy3+ doped and Eu3+/Tb3+ co-doped MMoO4 (M=Ca, Sr, Ba) phosphors

Dy3+ doped and Eu3+/Tb3+ co-doped MMoO4 (M=Ca, Sr, Ba) phosphors have been successfully prepared via a simple surfactant-free hydrothermal method. Their crystal structure, morphology, and luminescent characteristics were investigated. The results show that the as-prepared CaMoO4 particles have the cylinder-like shape, SrMoO4 samples present dumbbell-like shape, and the as-prepared BaMoO4 products show micro-rods shape with a length of 5–15 μm. MMoO4:Dy3+ phosphors exhibited the characteristic excitation and emission transitions of Dy3+ and most of the chromaticity coordinates are located in the white-light region. In addition, with increasing Dy3+ ions concentration the color changes gradually from near blue to near yellow. All the characteristic emissions of Eu3+ and Tb3+ can be observed in Eu3+/Tb3+ co-doped MMoO4 phosphors, and the emission color can be easily tuned from red, through yellow or green-yellow, to green by simply adjusting the relative doping concentrations of the Eu3+ and Tb3+ ions. The present work suggests that these phosphors may have potential application for light-emitting diodes (LEDs).