In-situ crystal growth and photoluminescence properties of YBO3: Tb3+ microstructures

Three-dimensional (3D) YBO3:Tb3+ flower-like and dense flower-like hierarchitecture constituted of nanoflakes are solvothermally synthesized in the presence of polyborate precursors in the mixture of ethanol and water. The growth process of the YBO3:Tb3+ flowers and dense flowers was explored based on the time-dependent experiment and the results showed that the growth mechanism follows an in situ growth rather than self-assembly process as reported previously. YBO3:Tb3+ morphologies composed of nanoflakes are achieved by controlling the concentration of ethanol and dependence of photoluminescence on morphology was studied. Remarkable photoluminescence enhancement was observed for YBO3:Tb3+ with flower-like morphology demonstrating the potential of the microstructure in future applications as a green phosphor. Such a synthetic method and growth mechanism may be applied to fabricate complex 3D architectures of other materials.