Synthesis of Tb3+:Y3Al5O12 by citrate sol-gel process and its luminescent characteristics

Tb3+:Y3Al5O12 (Tb:YAG) phosphors with different Tb3+ concentrations were synthesized using citrate sol-gel method. Y2O3 and Al(NO3) were used as starting materials, where citric acid is used as chelating agent and ethylene glycol as binding agent. X-ray diffraction, FE-SEM and luminescence analysis were used to characterize Tb:YAG phosphor. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of YAG phase with cubic structure at lower temperature (850 °C) without any impurity peaks. FE-SEM results conformed that the resultant YAG particles were bulged sphere like morphology with average particle were bulged sphere like morphology with average particle size of 40-50 nm. The greenish emission spectrum of Tb3+:YAG with different concentrations has been measured for high temperature calcined phosphor. (author)