Pechini-type sol–gel synthesis and multicolor-tunable emission properties of GdY(MoO4)3:RE3+ (RE = Eu, Dy, Sm, Tb) phosphors

•GdY(MoO4)3:RE3+ (RE = Eu, Dy, Sm, Tb) phosphor were synthesized via a Pechini-type sol–gel process.•Under the excitation, the GdY(MoO4)3:RE3+ phosphors exhibit the characteristic RE3+ emission.•The concentration quenching is not observed in the GdY(MoO4)3:xEu3+ system.•The emission intensities maximize at x = 0.05, 0.03, and 0.18 for Dy3+, Sm3+, and Tb3+ in the host.•The PL colors of GdY(MoO4)3:0.01Tb3+, xEu3+ samples can be tuned from green to red.

GdY(MoO4)3:RE3+ (RE = Eu, Dy, Sm, Tb) phosphor were synthesized via a Pechini-type sol–gel process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectra, and decay lifetimes etc were utilized to characterize the resulting samples. After annealed at 800 °C for 4 h in air, pure GdY(MoO4)3 phase can form. When the calcination temperature is further increased to 1100 °C, the crystallinity and luminescence intensity reach the best in our experiments. Under UV light and low-voltage electron beam excitation, the GdY(MoO4)3:Eu3+, GdY(MoO4)3:Dy3+, GdY(MoO4)3:Sm3+ and GdY(MoO4)3:Tb3+ phosphors exhibit the characteristic emission of Eu3+ (5D0-7F2, red), Dy3+ (4F9/2–6H13/2, yellow), Sm3+ (4G5/2–6H7/2, orange) and Tb3+ (5D4–7F5, green) with a high color purity, respectively. The Eu3+ and Tb3+ co-doping phosphors are capable of showing color-tunable emissions in the visible region under single-wavelength excitation. The luminescence mechanism and concentration quenching effect were discussed in detail.

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