In-situ chemical co-precipitation composition of hybrid precursors and luminescence of Y1−xGdxNbO4: RE3+ (RE = Tb, Eu) micron crystalline phosphors

In this paper, firstly Tb3+/Eu3+-doped Y1−xGdxNbO4 phosphors with different ratio of Y to Gd have been synthesized by the in-situ co-precipitation assembly of hybrid precursors. Luminescent spectra of these phosphors have been investigated in order to examine the host matrix compositional effects on the photoluminescent behaviors. The red emission (5D0-7F2) intensity of Eu3+ was the strongest, and so was the green emission (5D4-7F5) intensity of Tb3+. Furthermore, the relative intensity ratio of 5D0-7F2 to 5D0-7F1 (Eu3+) or 5D4-7F5 to 5D4-7F6 (Tb3+) in all compounds are different due to the different environment of Eu3+ or Tb3+. Phase and particle size of prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electric microscope, indicating that the resultant samples present good crystalline state and crystalline grain sizes in the range of micrometer.