The novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) excited Na3Y9O3(BO3)(8):Eu3+ red phosphor was synthesized and the photoluminescence (PL) properties were investigated. The phosphor showed strong VUV PL intensity, large quenching concentration (40 mol%) and good chromaticity (0.649, 0.351). The Eu3+-O2- charge transition (CT) was observed to be at a higher energy (232 nm, 5.35 eV). The host absorption at 127166 nm was broad and strong when monitoring the Eu3+ emission, which indicated that energy transfer from the host-lattice to the Eu3+ ions was efficient in Na3Y9O3(BO3)(8):Eu3+. These excellent VUV PL properties were revealed to be correlated with the unique isolated layer-type structure of Na3Y9O3(BO3)(8) host. The results showed that the Na3Y9O3(BO3)(8):Eu3+ would be a good candidate for VUV-excited red phosphor. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.