Luminescence properties of YAl 3(BO 3) 4:Gd 3+ phosphors substituted with Sc 3+ ions

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YAl 3(BO 3) 4:Gd 3+ is an ultraviolet phosphor giving 3.97-eV emission line under the excitation by vacuum ultraviolet light. On the basis of a theoretical material design using first-principles molecular orbital calculations, Sc 3+ ions were proposed as a promising dopant to improve the luminescent properties of the YAl 3(BO 3) 4:Gd 3+ phosphor. In this work, YAl 3(BO 3) 4:Gd 3+ phosphors substituted with Sc 3+ ions were synthesized and their luminescence and excitation spectra were measured at room temperature. The observed excitation spectra of Y(Al,Sc) 3(BO 3) 4 :Gd 3+ and (Y,Sc)Al 3(BO 3) 4 :Gd 3+ phosphors actually show the additional absorption structure on the lower-energy side of the fundamental absorption edge of YAl 3(BO 3) 4:Gd 3+ phosphors and the associated luminescent intensity is significantly enhanced. From the results, we confirmed that the emission peak intensity of (Y,Sc)Al 3(BO 3) 4:Gd 3+ phosphors is stronger by a factor of about 1.5 compared to that of YAl 3(BO 3) 4:Gd 3+ phosphor to date.