EPR investigation on synthesis of Lithium zinc vanadate using sol–gel-combustion route and its optical properties

•Sol–gel-combustion synthesis of green emitting vanadate.•Characterization of LiZnVO4: XRD, SEM, PL and EPR.•EPR investigation to understand the change in coordination environment.

The present work describes the synthesis of Lithium zinc vanadate (LiZnVO4) nanophosphor prepared by sol–gel-combustion method and its optical properties. The prepared sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction, SEM, electron paramagnetic resonance and photoluminescence spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction study showed the formation of pure LiZnVO4 at 600 °C with distorted phenacite structure. SEM investigation revealed that the phosphor powder has spherical morphology with particle size of about 100–200 nm. EPR study showed the change of coordination sphere around vanadium from axially distorted octahedral symmetry to tetrahedral geometry along with the change in oxidation state of vanadium ion from +4 to +5. The emission spectrum showed a broad emission at 543 nm with λex = 375 nm. The decay time obtained on mono-exponential fitting was 8.3 μs. The colour coordinates of the system were evaluated using CIE index diagram to be 0.31 and 0.41, which suggest that the prepared material is a potential green emitting phosphor. A bright green colour emission was also observed directly from this phosphor upon excitation with an UV source.