Effects of Sm3+ concentration on the microstructure and luminescence properties of BiPO4 phosphor prepared by hydrothermal method

In this paper, we focus on the effect of Sm3+ ions concentrations on the microstructure and luminescence of and BiPO4:Eu3+ sample at pH 0.5. XRD results show that the as-prepared sample had a hexagonal structure and the change of Sm3+ concentrations do not introduce any secondary or other related phase in the samples. The crystal structure is not changed with the increase of Sm3+ concentration. However, the luminescence properties are improved obviously as 0.02 mol Sm3+ ions add to the BiPO4:0.05Eu3+ samples. Meanwhile, the introduction of Sm3+ can broaden and enhance the excitation intensity of Eu3+.