Improvement of luminescent intensity of ZnMoO4: Sm3+ phosphor by introducing alkali metal as charge compensation agent

Abstract The high temperature solid state reaction method was employed to synthesize a series of ZnMoO4: xSm3+ (x ​= ​0.001, 0.002, 0.003, 0.004, 0.005) and ZnMoO4: 0.003Sm3+, 0.003A+ (A ​= ​Li, Na, K) phosphors. The phase composition was studied by X-ray diffraction analysis. The Rietveld XRD refinement of the ZnMoO4: 0.005Sm3+ shows the effect of Sm3+ doping on the crystal lattice. The luminescent properties of the phosphors are studied, and the influence of alkali metal charge compensators on the luminescent properties is explored. The co-doping of alkali metals has a significant effect on the luminescence intensity and decay time of Sm3+ doped phosphor. The symmetry of Sm3+ sites in the ZnMoO4 crystal lattice was evaluated according to the transition intensities of 4G5/2→6H9/2 magnetic dipole transition and 4G5/2→6H9/2 electric dipole transition. The density of states of phosphors was studied by first-principles calculation via Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package (VASP).