Abstract
The effects of $Eu^{3+}$ doping on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of $MgMoO_4:Dy^{3+},Eu^{3+}$ phosphors prepared by solid-state reaction technique were investigated. XRD patterns exhibited that all the synthesized phosphors showed a monoclinic system with a dominant (220) diffraction peak, irrespective of the content of $Eu^{3+}$ ions. The surface morphology of $MgMoO_4:Dy^{3+},Eu^{3+}$ phosphors was studied using scanning electron microscopy and the grains showed a tendency to agglomerate as the content of $Eu^{3+}$ ions increased. The excitation spectra of the phosphor powders were composed of a strong charge transfer band centered at 294 nm in the range of 230~340 nm and two intense peaks at 354 and 389 nm, respectively, arising from the $^6H_{15/2}{\rightarrow}^6P_{7/2}$ and $^6H_{15/2}{\rightarrow}^4M_{21/2}$ transitions of $Dy^{3+}$ ions. The emission spectra of the $Mg_{0.85}MoO_4$:10 mol% $Dy^{3+}$ phosphors without incorporating $Eu^{3+}$ ions revealed a strong yellow band centered at 573 nm resulting from the $^4F_{9/2}{\rightarrow}^6H_{13/2}$ transition of $Dy^{3+}$. As the content of $Eu^{3+}$ was increased, the intensity of the yellow emission was gradually decreased, while that of red emission band located at 614 nm began to appear, approached a maximum value at 10 mol%, and then decreased at 15 mol% of $Eu^{3+}$. These results indicated that white light emission could be achieved by controlling the contents of the $Dy^{3+}$ and $Eu^{3+}$ ions incorporated into the $MgMoO_4$ host crystal.
