Photoluminescence and energy transfer studies in Ce3+ and Sm3+ activated P2O5+K2O+Al2O3+BaF2+NaF2 glasses for solid state lighting

Abstract

A color of blue-red emission by Ce3+ and Sm3+ activated fluorophosphate glasses (PKABfNf:P2O5+K2O + Al2O3+BaF2+NaF2) were successfully fabricated by using usual melt and sudden quenching method. The FTIR, SEM, EDS, luminescence spectra, the decay rates, and energy transfer (ET) mechanism in the co-doped (Ce3+,Sm3+):PKABfNf glasses were systematically investigated in detail. The luminescence spectra of co-doped glasses show broadband blue de-excitation that belongs to Ce3+ ions and it obviously intensify the red de-excitation of Sm3+ through an effective ET process. The decrease in lifetime could support the existence of ET between Ce3+ and Sm3+ in PKABfNf glasses. This ET from Ce3+ to Sm3+ can be proposed to be the interaction due to quadrupole-quadrupole, based on the Dexter's ET formula and Reisfeld's approximation. Furthermore, CIE chromaticity coordinates, color correlated temperature, color purity, ET luminous efficiency (ηET), critical energy transfer distance (Rc), and ET parameter (Q) were calculated. The findings show that (Ce3+,Sm3+):PKABfNf glass might be a promising candidate in lighting field applications.