Synthesis, luminescence and energy transfer of Ca3GdNa(PO4)3F: Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphor with novel apatite structure

Abstract

A series of Ce3+/Tb3+ singly doped and Ce3+, Tb3+ co-doped Ca3GdNa(PO4)3F phosphors were synthesized via high temperature solid-state reaction in a reductive atmosphere. The crystal, luminescence properties, energy transfer mechanism and thermal stability of the samples were investigated in detail. The Ce3+ doped phosphors can be excited in the range from 250 to 330 nm. The Ce3+,Tb3+ co-doped phosphors exhibit characteristic emission of Ce3+ and Tb3+ simultaneously under the excitation of 301 nm. In addition, the energy transfer efficiency from Ce3+ to Tb3+ reaches as high as 78.6% when the doping amount of Tb3+ is 0.20. The mechanism of energy transfer between Ce3+ and Tb3+ ions is demonstrated to be a dipole−dipole interaction. The luminescence characteristics show that this phosphor can be a platform for modeling a new phosphor and application in the solid-state lighting field.