The innovative hydrogel template (polyacrylamide or polyacrylic acid) directed synthesis of YVO4:Eu3+ phosphor in a controlled manner was thoroughly studied. Photoluminescence spectra show the europium(III)-doped yttrium orthovanadate could exhibit strong red emissions within the soft matrix (polyacrylamide) and remain relatively stable even when the temperature reached nearly 100 degrees C. After calcination process, X-ray powder diffraction patterns, SEM and DLS measurements implied that the sample was in agreement with pure tetragonal phase and the particle sizes were in the range of 100-200 nm. More importantly, YVO4:Eu3+ products prepared based on hydrogels have remarkable improvement in emission intensities compared to phosphors synthesized by conventional approach. Similar results of overall quantum efficiency also support that YVO4:Eu3+ assembled by PAM hydrogel (1.94%) is better than the routine way (0.91%). (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.