Luminescence properties of nanosized Y3Al5O12Ce3+ phosphor synthesized by liquid phase precursor method.

A novel liquid-phase precursor (LPP) method using precursor nanoparticles (PNs) is proposed to synthesize yttrium aluminum garnet nano-sized phosphor (Y3Al5O12:Ce3+, nano-YAG:Ce) at 1100-1500 degrees C for 5 h. The influences of the heat-treatment and morphology properties of the PNs on the luminescence properties of the nano-YAG:Ce phosphor were investigated. Nano-YAG:Ce phosphor with better morphology and high luminescence efficiency was obtained with heat-treatment of PNs at 1200 degrees C. With more heat treatment, the phosphor particles agglomerated more, and the emission intensity increased. The broad photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the nano-YAG:Ce phosphor were centered at 341 nm and 466 nm, respectively, due to the 4f --> 5d energy transition. The nonsymmetrical emission spectra range of 470-750 nm was centered at 529.2 nm due to the 5d --> 4f energy transition of Ce3+. The nano-YAG:Ce, and micro-YAG:Ce phosphors synthesized by the LPP method using precursor microparticles (PMs) and PNs were investigated and compared.