Hydrothermal synthesis and luminescence properties of KCaY (PO4)2: Tb3+, Eu3+ phosphor

KCaY (PO4)2: Tb3+ phosphor was synthesized by the hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The XRD patterns demonstrated that the synthetic material belonged to the phase of KCaY (PO4)2 crystal without detectable impurity. The SEM image showed that the morphology of the product was completely in the form of quadrangular and prismhexagonal prisms. Under the excitation of ultraviolet (218 nm), the emission spectra exhibited multi emission peaks from blue to red. Tunable emission from the greenish-blue to yellowish-green region was achieved by changing concentration of Tb3+. In order to obtain white light emission, Eu3+ was introduced into KCaY (PO4)2: Tb3+ host. A low color temperature white light was achieved by an effective energy transfer from Tb3+ to Eu3+. KCaY (PO4)2: Tb3+, Eu3+ can be used as a potential single-phased white phosphor excited by ultraviolet or vacuum ultraviolet.