In this paper, a novel upconversion phosphor is reported. Based on XRD and EDS, it is confirmed that the phosphor is monoclinic Gd2Mo4O15:Yb3+, Ho3+ with P21/c space group. The non-radiation decay of 5I6 to 5I7 dominants the depopulation of 5I6, thus the phosphor produces the red upconversion emission with high emission intensity and good color quality, and shows the favorable temperature sensing property. When using non-continuous excitation mode, the temperature sensitivity is determined as 0.0452 K−1. Because the sensitivity is the same at any temperature, the new upconversion material may have greater potential for temperature sensing application than Er3+ doped upconverison materials.
Novel Eu 3+ activated Gd 2 Mo 4 O 15 phosphors were synthesized at the comparatively low temperature of 700 °C via solid-state reaction. X-ray powder diffraction results demonstrate that the phosphors crystallize in the triclinic crystal structure, the space group P I ¯ . The photoluminescence spectra and ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) reflectance and transmittance spectra indicate that Eu 3+ doped Gd 2 Mo 4 O 15 phosphors show a broad and strong absorption band covering ultraviolet (UV) and near ultraviolet (NUV) regions and the crystals emit red light with peak maximum at about 618 nm under excitation of UV, NUV or blue light. The optimal doping concentration of Eu 3+ ions in Gd 2 Mo 4 O 15 phosphors is around 50 mol% and the main concentration quenching mechanism is determined to be the exchange interaction.