Single-component Ba3(ZnB5O10)PO4: Eu2+, Mn2+ phosphors with color-tunable luminescence properties for near-ultraviolet-pumped white light-emitting diodes

Abstract

Single-component Eu2+ and Mn2+-codoped Ba3(ZnB5O10)PO4 phosphors were firstly synthesized by the solid-state reaction. Under near-ultraviolet excitation, the Ba3(ZnB5O10)PO4: Eu2+, Mn2+ phosphors displayed an intense blue emission attributed to the 4f-5d transition of the Eu2+ ions along with a characteristic orange-red emission due to the 4T1(4G)-6A1(6S) transition of the Mn2+ ions. Increasing the doping concentration of the Mn2+ ions considerably strengthened Mn2+ emission and reduced Eu2+ emission owing to the energy transfer from Eu2+ to Mn2+ ions, thus implementing the continuous tuning of chromaticity coordinates of the Ba3(ZnB5O10)PO4: Eu2+, Mn2+ phosphors from blue to orange-white and eventually to orange-red. Furthermore, theoretical calculations demonstrated that the dipole-dipole interaction was dominantly involved in the mechanism of energy transfer from Eu2+ to Mn2+ ions in the phosphors, and the critical distance was calculated to be 23.61 Å. By combining the typical Ba3(ZnB5O10)PO4: 0.05Eu2+, 0.07Mn2+ phosphor with the 370 nm near-ultraviolet chip, the warm white light with the low correlated color temperature of 3720 K was achieved. These results indicate that our phosphors exhibit great potential for use as single-component phosphors for near-ultraviolet-pumped white light-emitting diodes.