An appropriate solid-state route was adopted to synthesize a series of related Ba3Sc(PO4)(3):xSm(3+) red-orange phosphors. The Rietveld method was used to explore the structure of the phosphor. At present the PL, PLE, diffuse reflection and decay curves have been investigated in detail. These phosphors can be accurately excited by the 406 nm n-UV light and produce the emitted red-orange light whose peaks locate at about 566 nm, 603 nm and 650 nm. The quantum efficiency of Ba3Sc0.95(PO4)(3):0.05Sm(3+) was 53.5%. All above results indicate that Ba3Sc(PO4)(3):Sm3+ phosphor can act as a suitable candidate of the warm components of n-UV w-LEDs. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.