Investigation of lanthanum-sensitized CaZrO₃ blue nanophosphors for white light-emitting diode applications

In the present study, CaZrO₃ nanophosphors were sensitized with lanthanum (La) at different concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5) prepared using polyvinyl alcohol as the chelating agent through the sol-gel method. To study their structural and optical properties, samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence (PL). The XRD results revealed that samples were well crystallized and average crystallite sizes were calculated. The average crystallite size value was in good agreement with the value obtained from TEM analysis. Energy dispersive spectroscopy and FE-SEM confirmed the existence of La in the prepared samples. In the PL spectra, La-sensitized samples exhibited three bands at 402 nm, 438 nm, and 463 nm in the visible range when excited at the 260 nm wavelength. As the proportion of La increased, the intensity of bands at 438 nm and 463 nm decreased, whereas the band at 402 nm remained stable. Time-resolved PL spectra illustrated the lifetime of the samples. Corresponding CIE co-ordinates for La-sensitized CaZrO₃ were calculated.