In-dopants effect on the photoluminescence properties of YVO4 nanophosphors

J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2010 Mar;10(3):2040-3. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2010.2156.

Abstract

The powders of Yttrium vanadate (YVO4) with In-dopants were synthesized by solid-state reactions, and X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and the luminescence intensity change were used to characterize the samples. The results of XRD indicated that the YVO4:In3+ samples remained in pure cubic phase. TEM illustrated that the powders mainly consisted of grains with an average size of 100 nm. Under the excitation of 320 nm, the YVO4:In3+ single-crystalline samples exhibited emission ranging from 350 to 700 nm. The emission intensity of YVO4:In3+ increased with increasing indium concentration in the lower indium concentration region until the saturated PL intensity was reached, and the strongest white fluorescence was observed when the In3+ doping concentration was 2% at 900 degrees C. The luminescent intensity of YVO4:In3+ (2%) was 9.6 times as strong as that of non-doped YVO4. The nanophosphors emit white luminescence owing to broad charge transfer in crystal lattice is due to the addition of In3+ to capture the UV radiation.