Red emitting phosphors (Y

Gd)BO

3

:Eu

with mean size of 1～2 μm were prepared by a sol-gel process combined with a furnace firing. For the sol-gel procedure

tri-n-butyl borate B(OC

4

H

9

)

3

was mixed and stirred with a nitric solution of Y

2

O

3

Gd

2

O

3

Eu

2

O

3

having a mole proportion of 0.45:0.50:0.05 in ethanol. The (Y

Gd

Eu)BO

3

gel precursor prepared from solution was sintered at a certain temperature range of 800～1200℃. The prepared orthoborates were characterized with X-ray diffraction

scanning electron microscopy and photoluminescence. Conventional solid state reactions require higher sintering temperatures above 1200℃ for pure (Y

Gd)BO

3

:Eu phase. However

the sol-gel process allows a significant decrease of the sintering temperature and the phosphor sintered at 800℃ had pure orthoborate phase. The effect of preparation conditions such as amount of B(OC

4

H

9

)

3

and sintering temperature on the crystallinity

morphology and luminescence characteristics of phosphor particles were investigated. The results show that 10%～20% excess of B(OC

4

H

9

)

3

is favorable to get pure orthoborate phase and control the morphology of particles. Also

the particle size and VUV luminescence of phosphors are dependent on sintering temperature. The particles obtained by sintering at 1000 and 1100℃ had narrow distribution and the aggregation of particles appeared at 1200℃. The PL intensity of the phosphor prepared by sol-gel process reached the maximum value at 1100℃ and was 20% higher than that of the phosphor prepared at 1200℃ by conventional solid state reaction. By sol-gel process

small-sized (Y

Gd)BO

3

:Eu with narrow distribution

high luminescent efficiency and good morphology can be prepared in a wide range of reaction condition.