Effects of Li+ co-doping on the concentration quenching threshold and luminescence of GdVO4:Eu3+ nanophosphors

Abstract

Europium ions (Eu3+) and Lithium ions (Li+) codoped gadolinium orthovanadate with a tetragonal phase had been successfully synthesized by an efficient hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence (PL) were utilized to characterize the microstructure, morphology, and luminescent properties of as-prepared samples. The various concentrations (0∼14 at.%) of Li ions were applied to investigate the effect of Li+ co-doping concentration on the crystalline structure, microstructure, and emission intensity of GdVO4:Eu3+, Li+ nanophosphors. The results demonstrated that Li+ ion co-doping changes the lattice parameters in two different ways. Moreover, the optical photoluminescent property was obtained when the Li+ co-doping concentration is 10 at.%. The influence of Li+ co-doping on the concentration quenching effect of Eu3+ was discussed as well. The concentration quenching threshold of Eu3+ was increased distinguishably. The potential mechanism was proposed in this paper.