UV/VUV excited photoluminescence of Tb3+ doped LaPO4 green emitting phosphors for PDP applications

La1-xPO4:xTb (x = 0.01 <= x <= 0.11) phosphors were synthesized using conventional co-precipitation method. The powder X-ray diffraction confirmed the pure phase formation of LaPO4 host material. Upon ultra-violet (UV) excitation and vacuum ultra-violet (VUV), the phosphor showed a dominant green emission band centered at 544 and 545 nm, respectively due to the D-5(4) -> F-7(5) transition of Tb3+. The concentration quenching phenomena occurred when Tb3+ concentration was beyond 0.09 mol and this quenching mechanism could be explained by the dipole-dipole interaction. The optimal concentration was found to be 0.09 mol of Tb3+ ion. The CIE chromaticity coordinates of the optimized (La0.91PO4:0.09Tb) phosphor was determined to be (0.265, 0.567). All the analyzed results confirms that the La1-xPO4:xTb (x = 0.01 <= x <= 0.11) phosphors can find possible applications as promising green-emitting phosphor in near UV and VUV used in plasma display panels.