A novel red phosphor Ca₂ YNbO₆ :Eu³⁺ for WLEDs

Due to the advantages of good physicochemical properties, thermal stability, and optical properties, double perovskite compounds have received extensive attention. On this basis, a new type of red phosphor, Ca₂ YNbO₆ :xEu³⁺ , was synthesized using a high-temperature solid-phase method. Its phase purity, morphology, elemental composition, absorption spectrum, photoluminescence, thermal stability, and Commission Internationale de l'éclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates were thoroughly investigated. The results display that there is no impurity phase in the samples and the convergence factor R_wp  = 14.2%; the microscopic particles are uniform and full, and the distribution of each element is uniform. The energy band gap ΔE is between 3.71 eV and 3.65 eV. The luminescence intensity is the best when the doped Eu³⁺ concentration x reaches 0.4, and emits 612 nm red light (⁵ D₀ →⁷ F₂ ) under 465 nm excitation, and the concentration quenching is attributed to a d-d interaction. The luminescence intensity at 425 K was still 75% of the room temperature luminescence intensity, which indicates that the thermal stability is extremely superior. The CIE chromaticity coordinates (0.6534, 0.3455) of the Ca2YNbO6:0.4Eu³⁺  phosphors are very close to National Television Standards Committee (0.670, 0.330), and the samples have low correlated colour temperature (2656 K) and high colour purity (99.90%). All findings suggest that Ca₂ YNbO₆ :Eu³⁺ can serve as a substitute for red phosphor in WLEDs.