A novel tunable green- to yellow-emitting β-YFS:Ce³+ phosphor for solid-state lighting

A Ce(3+)-activated fluorosulfide phosphor (β-YFS:Ce(3+)) was synthesized by solid-state reaction in a sealed tube. The crystal structure has been refined from the XRD profiles and there are two different crystallographic rare earth sites, namely, Y(1) and Y(2), where the Ce(3+) ions occupied. The emission band with a maximum at 495 nm of β-Y(0.99)Ce(0.01)FS phosphor was characterized by the 4f-5d transitions of Ce(3+) ion. With increasing Ce(3+) concentration, the emission variations were observed from 495 to 547 nm. When β-YFS:Ce(3+) phosphors were utilized to incorporate with n-UV/blue chip, greenish-white light with color rendering index of 65-77 were obtained. The results indicate that the tunable green- to yellow-emitting β-YFS:Ce(3+) can serve as a potential phosphor for incorporation in fabrication for solid-state lighting. The preparation, spectroscopic characterization, quantum efficiency, thermal-quenching behavior, and related LED device data are also presented.