At present,the rare earth (RE) ions doped phosphors have attracted more and more attention because of their excellent properties.In this paper,a series of novel blue-purple β-Ca3(PO4)2∶Ce3+ phosphors were synthesized by a high temperature solid phase method.The X-ray diffraction (XRD),infrared spectrum,energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS),scanning electron microscopy (SEM),X-ray photoelectron spec-troscopy (XPS),photoluminescence excitation and emission spectra were used to investigate the crystal structure,composition and the luminescent properties of the resulting samples.The phosphor shows a strong absorption in the ultraviolet band.Under the excitation of 269 nm,the phosphor emits a strong purple fluorescence ranging from 360 to 520 nm.When Ce3+ doping content is 0.07 mol,the strongest luminescence intensity is reached,and the concentration quenching mechanism is dipole-dipole (d-d)interaction for Ce3+ based on Dexter theory.