A new rare-earth-free NaZnPO4:Mn2+ (NZP:Mn) phosphor powder has been developed by our group and investigated meticulously for the first time using secondary ion mass spectroscopy and chemical imaging techniques. The studies confirmed the effective incorporation of Mn2+ into the host lattice, resulting in an enhancement of photoluminescence intensity. Phase purity has been verified and structure parameters have been determined successfully by Rietveld refinement studies. The NZP:Mn phosphor powder exhibits strong absorption bands in the ultraviolet and visible (300-470 nm) regions with a significant broad yellow-green (~543 nm) emission due to the characteristic spin forbidden d-d transition (4T1→6A1) of Mn2+ ions, indicating weak crystal field strength at the zinc-replaced manganese site. The decay constants are a few milliseconds, which is a pre-requisite for applications in many display devices. The results obtained suggest that this new phosphor powder will find many interesting applications in semiconductor physics, as cost-effective light-emitting diodes (LEDs), as solar cells and in photo-physics. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.