Lanthanide-activated scheelite nanocrystal phosphors prepared by the low-temperature vapor diffusion sol-gel method.

A series of Eu3+-, Tb3+-, and Tm3+-doped CaWO4 phosphor nanocrystals have been synthesized under benign conditions using the vapor diffusion sol-gel method. The high degree of synthetic flexibility inherent to this approach has enabled the synthesis of a CaWO4:(Eu,Tb) dual-sensitized white light emitting nanocrystal phosphor upon commercial UV excitation at 366 nm with a long lifetime exceeding 1 ms.