Photoluminescence and energy transfer studies on Tm3+/Dy3+/Eu3+doped borosilicate glasses for color tunability and warm white light generation

Abstract

Potassium Zinc Alumino Borosilicate (KZABS) glasses doped with Dy3+, Tm3+ and Eu3+ have been prepared by a quench melting technique. The glasses show characteristic blue (1D2 → 3F4) and yellow (4F9/2 → 6H13/2) emission bands under 362 nm excitation. To produce warm white light, a red component was required in luminescence for which Eu3+ ions were added to the KZABS glass. A red emission (5D0 → 7F2) was seen under 362 nm excitation along with the blue and yellow bands. Photoluminescence (PL) studies show energy transfer from Tm3+ and Dy3+ ions to Eu3+ ions. The average lifetimes of the tri-doped glasses for all emission wavelengths decrease with increasing concentration of Eu3+ions. CIE chromaticity study also proves that tri-doped KZABS glasses can generate warm white light. Thus, we propose to use KZABS: Tm3+/Dy3+/Eu3+ glasses for warm white light generation in solid-state lighting (SSL) and white light emitting diode (w-LED) applications.