Matrix induced synthesis of LaNbO4:Tb3+ phosphors by in situ composing hybrid precursors

Abstract In this paper, a novel modified in situ chemical coprecipitation technology was achieved to synthesize LaNbO4 doped with Tb3+ phosphors. Among rare earth (La and Tb) coordination polymers were adopted as precursors for the La and Tb oxides sources, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was introduced to form the hybrid polymeric systems with rare earth coordination polymers. Accompanied with other functional components, the multicomponent hybrid precursors were composed by an in situ coprecipitation process. After the calcination, LaNbO4:Tb3+ phosphors were obtained, whose particle sizes were in the range of 1–3 μm characterized by XRD and SEM. The photoluminescence properties of LaNbO4:Tb3+ phosphors were compared to investigate as a function of Tb3+ ion concentrations, which revealed that these nanophosphors showed a strong visible green emission from 5D4 to 7F5 at 543 nm under ultraviolet excitation. The luminescence of Tb3+ quenches emission for a charge-transfer-band of NbO 4 3 - .