Adjusting
the local coordination environment of lanthanide luminescent
ions is a useful method to manipulate the relevant photoluminescence
(PL) property. K3Lu(PO4)2 is a phase-change
material, and according to the stable temperature range from low to
high, the related polymorphs are phase I [P21/m, coordination number (CN) of Lu3+ = 7], phase II (P21/m, CN = 6), and phase III (P3̅, CN = 6), respectively.
Based on the temperature-dependent PL analysis of K3Lu(PO4)2:Pr3+, we find that Pr3+ ions occupy the noninversion sites (C
s
) in the two low-temperature phases but preferentially
enter into the inversion ones (C
3i
) in phase III. Compared to Pr3+-doped phase I (78
K), Pr3+ ions in phase III (300 K) manifest a weaker fluorescence
intensity (170-fold lower). To enhance the room-temperature PL property
of K3Lu(PO4)2:Pr3+, a
polymorphous adjustment strategy was proposed by the use of the ion-doping
method. By introducing the Gd3+ ions into the lattice,
Pr3+-doped phase I is successfully stabilized to room temperature,
manifesting a 27-fold fluorescence increase in comparison to K3Lu(PO4)2:Pr3+ (0.1 at. %).
The finding discussed in this study highlights the significance of
site engineering for luminescent ions and also presents the application
value of phase-change hosts in the development of high-performance
luminescent materials.