Luminescence studies of high color purity red-emitting [formula omitted] phosphor prepared by microwave-assisted synthesis technique

Abstract

A set of red-emitting phosphor materials (Ca1−xAl4O7:Eux3+, x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, 0.09, 0.11, 0.13) were synthesized through microwave-assisted combustion synthesis for the first time. The crystal structures and phase purity of Eu3+ ions-activated calcium dialuminate (CaAl4O7) phosphor were investigated by XRD study and Rietveld refinement analysis were performed. The prepared phosphors exhibit monoclinic crystal structure having C2/c space group. From the radius difference percentage calculation, the occupancy of Eu3+ ions in Ca2+ sites was confirmed which is in better harmony with the refinement result. Morphological analysis was investigated through SEM study. Structural characteristics and the presence of the functional groups were analysed though FTIR study. The optical band gap (Eg) was determined to be 5.46 eV by studying the UV–VIS reflectance spectra. PL measurements were carried out for the prepared material to study the luminescent behaviour. The presence of charge transfer band was observed in the excitation spectra. It is found that the prepared phosphor materials exhibits emission rich in red at 611 nm with fixed excitation wavelength at 393 nm. The concentration quenching and energy transfer kinetics were analysed by employing Blasse and Dexter’s formula that attributed the non-radiative energy transfer to the dipole-dipole (d-d) interactions. Local site symmetry was analysed to study the symmetry of the environment in the neighbourhood of Eu3+ ions in the host matrix. To analyse the colorimetric performance of the phosphor materials, the correlated color temperature (CCT), color purity were calculated by using the CIE chromaticity co-ordinates (CIE 1931). The calculated CCT value shows the appearance of the emitted color of the phosphor in the warmer region. CaAl4O7:Eu3+ phosphor manifests high color purity which was found to be 97.39 %. The PL decay time measurement were performed for Ca1−xAl4O7:Eux3+ (x = 0.07) phosphor to obtain the decay lifetime. The estimated decay time (1.44 ms) indicates that the prepared phosphor material has a good potency to be utilized as a red-emitting phosphor for wLED, display technology and other applications.