Influence of Y3+, Gd3+, and Lu3+ co-doping on the phase and luminescence properties of monoclinic Eu:LaVO4 particles

Abstract

Nano-sized particles of monoclinic-LaVO₄ were prepared in a short reaction time of 30 minutes by employing a microwave assisted hydrothermal synthesis in the presence of glycerol, which was used both as a solvent and structure-directing agent. The tetragonal-LaVO₄ is known to show strong luminescence properties when doped with Ln³⁺, whereas the monoclinic-LaVO₄ is usually considered not suitable for luminescence and therefore luminescence properties of monoclinic-LaVO₄ doped with Ln³⁺ ions are seldom investigated. Due to the scarce amount of research on the topic of luminescence of Ln³⁺ doped monoclinic-LaVO₄ in this paper a detailed study of solid state luminescence properties, including quantum yields, of nano-sized monoclinic-LaVO₄ doped with different molar percentages of Eu³⁺ is presented. It was observed that the 12.5%Eu³⁺ doped sample showed the strongest luminescence properties. Additionally a study of the influence of different rare-earth ions (Y³⁺, Gd³⁺, Lu³⁺) co-doped into the particles was performed in order to explore the potential of increasing the luminescence of these materials. Furthermore stable colloidal suspensions of the Eu³⁺ doped monoclinic-LaVO₄ nanoparticles showing strong red emission could be obtained.