Fabrication and characterization of Zn3V2O8 phosphor by sol–gel process

By choosing zinc acetate dehydrate (Zn(CH3COO)2·2H2O) and ammonium metavanadate (NH4VO3) as starting materials, we succeeded in fabricating Zn3V2O8 phase suitable for broad light emission by sol–gel process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope, photoluminescence (PL) and PL quantum yield (PL-QY) measurements have been performed for analyzing the relation between crystallographic and light emission characteristics. The PL-QY is determined by both the crystalline phase purity of the Zn3V2O8 phase defined by XRD patterns and the crystalline size. With optimizing the sintering condition at a slightly Zn-rich side, a pure Zn3V2O8 phase with enough large crystalline size was obtained with the PL-QY value of 52 %, which was higher than our previously obtained value by solid state reaction.