Effective fabrication of lanthanide activated phosphors and photoluminescence studies

Reactions under hydrothermal conditions between lanthanide ions and different loading hosts (phosphates, vanadates and molybdates) lead to a group of rare earth-based solid state materials. As for the cases of phosphates and vanadates, a novel self-sacrificing template route with ultrasonic assisted hydrothermal treatments has been utilized. The emission intensities of building blocks derived from yttrium (YPO4:Eu3+ and YVO4:Eu3+) were significantly stronger than their counterparts (GdPO4:Eu3+ and GdVO4:Eu3+). Ultrasonic irradiation of reaction solution ahead of hydrothermal treatments would also improve their red luminescence. In the case of molybdates, red/green emissive phosphors (BaMoO4: Eu3+ and BaMoO4: Tb3+) were achieved in the presence of polyaspartic acid as the template. Their structures and photophysical features have been investigated in detail.