Vuv-excited photoluminescence dependent on thermal treatment of YBO3:Tb3+ derived by hydrothermal process

The hydrothermally derived YBO3:Tb3+ phosphors are annealed at different temperatures (300–1100 °C). The investigations on photoluminescence show that, their luminescence intensity improves with increase of calcination temperature and enhances sharply after calcination at 850 °C. The results of XRD indicate that, as the temperature increases, the hydrothermal phosphors show better crystallization and it partly contributes to the luminescence improvement. The SEM photos indicate the particle size and plate shape of phosphors are still retained after calcination at 850 °C. The results of IR indicate that some OH− and more image groups exist in hydrothermal phosphors. The OH− groups which quench photoluminescence could be emilinated after thermal treatment above 450 °C. And, after calcination at 850 °C, majority of image change to image. The image groups are more efficient in absorbing energy in VUV region and mainly contribute to the sharp luminescence improvement of hydrothermal phosphors after calcination at 850 °C.