Improved luminescent properties of novel nanostructured Eu3+ doped yttrium borate synthesized with carbon nanotube templates

Eu3+-doped yttrium borate samples were prepared via a hydrothermal method using borate or tributyl borate as B3+ sources, with and without carbon nanotubes as templates. The morphology of the samples is easily altered by varying the carbon nanotube template, B3+ source and post-annealing treatment. Photoluminescence measurements indicate that the color purity of samples is clearly improved by template-assisted synthesis. Furthermore, with tributyl borate as the B3+ source, CIE coordinates of (0.67, 0.33), very similar to the (0.665, 0.334) coordinates for the commercial red phosphor Y2O2S:Eu3+, can be obtained. Finally, an extra Eu3+-O-2 excitation band is observed for samples made by template-assisted synthesis. The underlying mechanism is discussed in detail. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.