Tunable blue-green-emitting Ba3LaNa(PO4)3F:Eu2+,Tb3+ phosphor with energy transfer for near-UV white LEDs

A series of Eu(2+) and Eu(2+)/Tb(3+) activated novel Ba3LaNa(PO4)3F phosphors have been synthesized by traditional solid state reaction. Rietveld structure refinement of the obtained phosphor indicates that the Ba3LaNa(PO4)3F host contains three kinds of Ba sites. The photoluminescence properties exhibit that the obtained phosphors can be efficiently excited in the range from 320 to 430 nm, which matches perfectly with the commercial n-UV LED chips. The critical distance of the Eu(2+) ions in Ba3LaNa(PO4)3F:Eu(2+) is calculated and the energy quenching mechanism is proven to be dipole-dipole interaction. Tunable blue-green emitting Ba3LaNa(PO4)3F:Eu(2+),Tb(3+) phosphor has been obtained by co-doping Eu(2+) and Tb(3+) ions into the host and varying their relative ratios. Compared with the Tb(3+) singly doped phosphor, the codoped phosphors have more intense absorption in the n-UV range and stronger emission of the Tb(3+) ions, which are attributed to the effective energy transfer from the Eu(2+) to Tb(3+) ions. The energy transfer from the Eu(2+) to Tb(3+) ions is demonstrated to be a dipole-quadrupole mechanism by the Inokuti-Hirayama (I-H) model. The Eu(2+) and Tb(3+) activated phosphor may be good candidates for blue-green components in n-UV white LEDs.