Novel blue-emitting phosphors - BaBeSiO_4:Eu^2+: luminescence properties and its application for UV-light emitting diodes

Abstract

A new Eu2+-doped barium beryllium silicate, BaBeSiO4:xEu2+ (1% ≤ x ≤ 10%) phosphor was successfully synthesized by the high temperature solid-state reaction. The phosphor system was investigated as a novel candidate for phosphor-converted white light-emitting diode (LED) applications. The evolution of luminescence and structure of the phosphors induced by variation of sintering temperature are investigated using photoluminescence spectra and X-ray diffraction techniques. The concentration quenching and thermal quenching process of the phosphor were also investigated in detail. The BaBeSiO4:Eu2+ phosphor exhibits broad excitation spectra ranging from 250 to 400 nm, and a blue emission band centered at 460 nm under λex = 337 nm. The main parameters of the electron-vibrational interaction, such as Huang-Rhys factor, effective phonon energy, and zero-phonon line position, were all estimated. The optimal concentration of Eu2+ ions in BaBeSiO4 was determined to be 3 mol.%. The corresponding concentration quenching mechanism was verified to be the electric dipole−dipole interaction. The activation energy of BaBeSiO4:Eu2+ for thermal quenching was calculated to be 0.19 eV with the Arrhenius equation. The LED device exhibited an excellent color-rendering index Ra of 90.13 at a correlated color temperature of 4077 K with CIE color coordinates of (0.38, 0.39) under a 350 mA forward-bias current. Based on these results, we are currently evaluating the potential application of BaBeSiO4:Eu2+ as a white-emitting UV-convertible phosphor for high power LED applications.