The structural and spectral study of LiSrVO4:Tb3+ phosphor for UV-shifted imaging devices

Abstract The nanopowders of LiSrVO4:Tb3+ phosphors with varying Tb3+ concentration were prepared using the combustion route. The single phase monoclinic structure with space group P12/m and crystalline nature of the powders were confirmed by the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The agglomerated morphology of nanocrystalline grains of powders was established by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies. With photoluminescence (PL) studies, optimized phosphor exhibited green emission which was ascribed to the 5D4 → 7F5 (545 nm) transition of Tb3+ under 311 nm excitation. The CIE chromaticity coordinates of (0.28, 0.57) in the color gamut further confirm the green color emission. On account of radiation less energy transfer among Tb3+ ions under the interaction mechanism involving two electric dipoles, the phosphor showed quenched luminescence at elevated dopant concentration. The wide band gap of the phosphor ascertained through diffused reflectance (DR) study reveal that the phosphor host is a material suitable to entertain significant amount of dopant ions. The obtained results indicate that the green LiSrVO4:Tb3+ phosphor may be explored to be used for UV shifted silicon imaging devices such as CCDs.