In situ co-precipitation synthesis and luminescence of GdVO4: Eu3+ and YxGd1 − xVO4: Eu3+ microcrystalline phosphors derived from the assembly of hybrid precursors

GdVO4: Eu3+ and YxGd1 − xVO4: Eu3+ phosphors have been synthesized by a new wet-chemical method named as in situ co-precipitation from multicomponent hybrid precursors. Their microstructure and micromorphology have been analyzed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM), which indicates that there exist some novel cobblestone-like microcrystalline particles, especially for GdVO4: Eu3+. The optical characteristic of YxGd1 − xVO4: Eu3+ presents that the luminescence intensity reaches the strongest when the molar ratio of Y/Gd is 0.4/0.6 among x = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and the phosphor particles show a strong red emission at 618 nm originating from the hypersensitive transition 5D0 → 7F2 of Eu3+ ions.