Colour-tunable luminescence and thermal stability of blue-green emitting Ba2MgSi2O7: Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphors

Abstract

A series of Ba2MgSi2O7: Ce3+ and Ba2MgSi2O7: Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphors were successfully prepared using solid state reaction method. The XRD and FESEM results revealed that the prepared samples have a tetragonal crystal structure and the particles have irregular shapes and different size distributions. The Photoluminescence properties illustrate that Ce3+ doped Ba2MgSi2O7 (BMS) phosphors produced a broad single peak at the wavelength 435 nm under the excitation wavelength 326 nm. BMS: Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphors showed emissions bands for Ce3+ ion as well as Tb3+ ion under the excitation wavelength 252 nm. The energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ ion was investigated in detail. The emission colors were tuned from blue to green with the increase of Tb3+ concentration in BMS: 1.5 mol% Ce3+ phosphors. The energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ ions was ascribed to quadrupole-quadrupole interaction. The prepared phosphor showed an excellent thermal stability.