Effect of Mg substitution on structure and photoluminescence of MgxZn1−xMoO4:Tb3+ phosphor

Abstract The compositions in the series Mg x Zn 1 − x MoO 4 :Tb 3+ ( x = 0.1–0.5) doped with 15 mol% Tb were prepared by the co-precipitation method. Phase impurity, morphology, composition, and formation processes of Mg x Zn 1 − x MoO 4 :Tb 3+ phosphors were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA). The experimental results show that Mg 2+ doping has innegligible effect on the morphology of phosphors. The optimum Mg 2+ concentration is 10 mol% which can obtain uniformly particles with diameters in the range of 1.0–2.0 μm. In addition, when Mg 2+ concentration increases to 30 mol%, Mg x Zn 1 − x MoO 4 :Tb 3+ phosphors exhibit satisfactory and excellent green light monitored at 541 nm and their photoluminescence intensity is about 2 times stronger than that of single-doped ZnMoO 4 :Tb 3+ phosphors under the 378 or 488 nm excitation, respectively.