Structural, electronic and optical characterization of Eu 3+/Dy 3+ single and co-doped Mg2P2O7 phosphors

Abstract

Eu3+/ Dy3+ single and co-doped magnesium pyrophosphate phosphors were synthesized via solution combustion route. The resulted phosphor has a monoclinic crystal structure with space group B21/c. The lattice parameter of the sample is refined using ‘Full Prof software’. x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) result reveals that dysprosium and europium present in a trivalent valence state. Valence band spectra (VBS) result indicates that 6 features present in a single doped sample and 8 features present in a co-doped sample. The photoluminescence studies reveal that the combination of Eu3+ and Dy3+ emissions give tuneable emission from red to pink to yellowish-white under UV excitation. The energy transfer mechanism from Dy3+ to Eu3+ is confirmed from photoluminescence spectra and life time curves. The optical band gap of the prepared samples is obtained to be in the range of 5.02–5.40 eV. The synthesized material has conventional application in solid-state lighting under UV-excitation.