Multicolor Tuning in Room-Temperature Self-Activated Ca₂ Nb₂ O₇ Submicroplates by Lanthanide Doping

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Solid State Chemistry
• Luminescence

Background:

• Self-activated phosphors emit light from intrinsic ions but often suffer from low-temperature luminescence due to energy migration.
• Thermal energy migration at room temperature limits the practical applications of many self-activated phosphors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a strategy for achieving room-temperature luminescence in self-activated phosphors.
• To overcome the limitations of thermally activated energy migration in phosphors.
• To enable tunable multicolor emissions by coupling host and dopant luminescence.

Main Methods:

• Synthesizing calcium niobate (Ca2Nb2O7) submicroplates using a sol-gel method.
• Inducing structural distortions through modified synthesis conditions to limit energy migration.
• Coupling the broadband blue emission of Ca2Nb2O7 with rare-earth ion (Ln3+) dopants (Pr3+, Sm3+, Dy3+).

Main Results:

• Achieved room-temperature self-activated luminescence in Ca2Nb2O7 submicroplates.
• Demonstrated that structural distortions effectively limit energy migration.
• Successfully tuned multicolor emissions by adjusting the concentration of Ln3+ dopants.

Conclusions:

• The proposed strategy successfully converts low-temperature luminescence to room-temperature luminescence.
• Structural control during synthesis is key to designing effective room-temperature self-activated phosphors.
• This work expands the possibilities for designing phosphors with tunable multicolor emission properties.