Synthesis and photoluminescence of Ce3+ and Tb3+ doped double phosphates KMLaPO4 (M = Mg, Ca, Sr)

Abstract

Rare earth luminescent materials have become the main materials in information display, light engineering and here we describe a new approach to prepare the KMLaPO4: Ce, Tb. We take the X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometer to study the structure and the morphology and elemental component, TG-DTA also used to investigate the sinter process. Our results indicate that the substitute of K⁺ and M²⁺ to La³⁺ can not change the structure of monocline. The SEM shows flaky morphology with average size about 1µm. The optical results suggest that KxMgxLa0.6−xPO4: Ce, Tb has highest photoluminescence intensity (PL), and the PL increase with the concentration of K⁺ and M²⁺ ions.