An investigation of the photoluminescent properties and crystalline morphology of blue emitting LiBa1-xPO4:xTm3+ phosphors with various concentrations (x = 0.005-0.030) of Tm3+ ions were synthesized by microwave sintering. For comparison, the LiBa1-xPO4:xTm3+ powders sintered at the same sintering condition but in a conventional furnace were also investigated. LiBaPO₄ without second phase was formed no matter which furnace was used. More uniform grain size distributions are obtained by microwave sintering. When the concentration of Tm3+ ion was x = 0.015, the luminescence intensity reached a maximum value, and then decreased with the increases of the Tm3+ concentration due to concentration quenching effect. The microwave sintering significantly enhanced the emission intensity of LiBa1-xPO4:xTm3+ phosphors. Additionally, the d-d interaction is the key mechanism of concentration quenching for LiBaPO₄:Tm3+. The chromaticity (x, y) for all LiBa1-xPO₄:xTm3+ phosphors are located at (0.16, 0.05), which will be classified as a blue region.
Keywords: LiBaPO4; luminescence; microwave; phosphors.