Erosion mechanism of YAG:Ce3+ phosphor in bismuth borate glasses

Abstract

The poor thermal stability of current commercial white light emitting diodes (WLED) fabricated using a blue chip, a yellow YAG:Ce3+ phosphor (YAG) and resins, restricts their application in fields where long service time and high power lighting systems are required. Incorporating YAG into glass offers a possible way to resolve the problem by removing the organic resins in LED encapsulation. In the present study, YAG glass-ceramics with bismuth borate glass matrices were prepared using a rapid melt quenching technique. The YAG erosion mechanism was investigated for the first time in various glass matrix compositions at different co-sintering temperatures. The results demonstrate that neither B2O3 nor Bi2O3 individually erodes YAG particles, but the mixtures of B2O3 and Bi2O3 binary glass systems react with YAG and dissolve it almost completely or generate YAl3(BO3)4 (abbreviated as YAB), and they even erode as-produced YAB again under certain conditions. The production of YAB particles increases with the increase of the nBi/nB ratio at a lower temperature (680°C), while it first increases and then decreases at a higher temperature (800°C). The maximum production of YAB can be obtained at the co-sintering temperature of 680°C with an nBi/nB ratio of 55:45 or at 760°C with an nBi/nB ratio of 35:65. The intermediate Bi4B2O9 phase is found during the transformation of YAG into YAB. A simple but efficient approach is proposed to prevent YAG erosion and increase the luminous properties of YAG glass ceramics to a great extent by simply adding Ca2+ into bismuth borate glass matrices. The degree of YAG erosion decreases with increasing Ca2+ concentration until an impurity phase appears when the Ca2+ concentration exceeds 20mol%. The combination of good white light emission and suitable quantum efficiency as well as higher thermal stability makes the as-prepared YAG glass-ceramics equipped with a blue chip a possible alternative to commercial WLED.