Hydrothermal synthesis of amorphous spherical-shaped YBO3:Eu3+ and its photoluminescence property

Amorphous spherical Eu doped YBO 3 was synthesized by a mild one-step hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to characterize the as-prepared products. It was demonstrated that the use of urea as alkali source plays the key function in the formation of amorphous spherical YBO 3 :Eu 3+ . The crystallinity and the morphologies of the YBO 3 :Eu 3+ were sensitive to the urea content and the hydrothermal time. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra were detected. The sample in uniform diameter of 300–400 nm had the relative strong red emissions ( R ) and R / O ratio of 1.3.