Waterproof Narrow-Band Fluoride Red Phosphor K₂TiF₆:Mn⁴⁺ via Facile Superhydrophobic Surface Modification

With unique and efficient narrow-band red emission and broadband blue light absorption characteristics, Mn⁴⁺-activated fluoride red phosphors have gained increasing attention in warm white LEDs (WLEDs) and liquid crystal display (LCD) backlighting applications, whereas the intrinsic hygroscopic nature of these phosphors have inevitably limited their practical applications. Herein, a waterproof narrow-band fluoride phosphor K₂TiF₆:Mn⁴⁺ (KTF) has been demonstrated via a facile superhydrophobic surface-modification strategy. With the use of superhydrophobic surface modification with octadecyltrimethoxysilane (ODTMS) on KTF surfaces, the moisture-resistance performance and thermal stability of the phosphor KTF can be significantly improved. Meanwhile, the absorption, and quantum efficiency did not show obvious changes. The surface-modification processes and mechanism, as well as moisture-resistance performances and luminescence properties, of the phosphors have been carefully investigated. It was found that the luminous efficiency (LE) of the modified KTF was maintained at 83.9% or 84.3% after being dispersed in water for 2 h or aged at high temperature (85 °C) and high humidity (85%) atmosphere (HTHH) for 240 h, respectively. The WLEDs fabricated with modified KTF phosphor showed excellent color rendition with lower color temperature (2736 K), higher color rendering index (CRI, Ra = 87.3, R9 = 80.6), and high luminous efficiency (LE = 100.6 lm/W) at 300 mA. These results indicate that hydrophobic silane coupling agent (SCA) surface modification was a promising strategy for enhancing moisture resistance of humidity-sensitive phosphors, exhibiting great potential for practical applications.