A novel synthetic route to Y2O3:Tb3+ phosphors by bicontinuous cubic phase process

This study applies a novel approach to prepare the terbium-doped yttrium oxide phosphors (Y2O3:Tb3+) using the bicontinuous cubic phase (BCP) process. The experimental results show that the prepared precursor powder was amorphous yttrium hydroxide Y1−xTbx(OH)3 with a spherical shape and primary size 30–50 nm. High crystallinity phosphors with body-centered cubic structures were obtained after heat treatment above 700 °C for 4 h. The primary size of the phosphors grew to 100–200 nm, and dense agglomerates with a size below 1 μm were formed during the calcination. The obtained Y2O3:Tb3+ phosphor had a strong green emitting at 542 nm. The optimum Tb3+ concentration was 1 mol% to obtain the highest PL intensity. This study indicates that the calcining temperature of 700 °C needed for high luminescence efficiency in this work is much lower than 1000 °C or above needed for the conventional solid-state method.