Structure optimization for AlON system induced novel green light-emitting phosphor of Eu2+-Activated nitroaluminosilicate MgAl3SiO3N3 used for WLEDs

Abstract

The development of novel nitride-based phosphors is always a significant work, especially for AlON system because of their rigid crystal structure, which is similar to the promising host material of β-SiAlON. In this work, Mg2+ ion was introduced into AlON-related phase Al5O3N3 along with co-doped Si4+ ion used to keep charge neutrality, and thus a novel Mg-based nitroaluminosilicate MgAl3SiO3N3 (MASON) was successfully synthesized under a mild preparation condition due to the high reactivity of MgO. Benefiting from its special crystal structure optimized by the introduction of Mg2+ ion, Eu2+-activated MASON performs significant photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) properties. In contrast to most Eu2+-activated AlON related phosphors that commonly emit high-energy blue light, the as-prepared sample emits a high-bright green light along with good thermal stability. Moreover, its broad emission band with the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 134 nm well compensates the “cyan cavity”, which leads to a full spectrum light-emitting diode. The structure-property relation of Eu2+ in MASON was established in this work, which confirms the significant role of the introduced Mg2+ ion in the structure optimization of AlON system. The result may pave an efficient way to explore more promising AlON-based phosphors.