Powder synthesis and luminescence of a novel yellow-emitting Ba5Si11Al7N25: Eu2+ phosphor discovered by a single-particle-diagnosis approach for warm w-LEDs

Abstract

White LEDs combined by blue LED chip and yellow YAG: Ce phosphor are the mainstream of the lighting industry. However, due to the lack of red light component, it is difficult to meet the requirements of warm white lighting. The novel needle-like Ba5Si11Al7N25:Eu2+ particle discovered by the single-particle-diagnosis method shows a broad yellow emission band centered at ∼570 nm and a FWHM of 98 nm. Compared with YAG: Ce phosphor, the novel Ba5Si11Al7N25:Eu2+ phosphor exhibits longer emission wavelength, indicating potential application in warm white LEDs. In this work, the phase-pure powder of Ba5Si11Al7N25:Eu2+ is obtained in a non-stoichiometric ratio by the double-crucible method, and it shows similar luminescent properties as the single particle. Upon excitation with violet light (400 nm), the maximum emission wavelength of the as-prepared Ba5(1-x)Si11Al7N25: 5xEu2+ phosphors shift from 558 nm to 591 nm with Eu2+ ions concentration increasing, and the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) increase from 87 nm to 100 nm. The broad emission band is attributed to three luminescent centers corresponding to three different Ba2+ ions sites Ba5Si11Al7N25:Eu2+ phosphor, which is demonstrated by time-resolved emission spectra and the decomposition of the emission spectrum at 4 K. The Ba5Si11Al7N25:Eu2+ phosphor shows a small thermal quenching with a quenching temperature as high as 700 K. The as-prepared phosphor can absorb both of UV and blue light effectively and exhibits similar quantum efficiency under the excitation of 400 nm (58.5 %) and 450 nm (54.5 %). The fabricated white LED lamp emitted a warm white light with CIE coordinates of (0.3838, 0.3252) and CCT = 3412 K, implying the potential applications in warm w-LEDs.