“…The ideal way to overcome these problems is to keep the low-valent ions stable in the air environment such as in Sr/Ca[B 8 O 11 (OH) 4 ]:Eu; 9,10 CaAl 2 Si 2 O 8 :Eu; 11 a-Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 :Eu; 12 M 2 B 5 O 9 Cl:Eu 2+ (M = Sr, Ca) 13 or to use the Eu 3+ -Eu 2+ self-reduction to achieve excellent thermal stability. Compared to rare earth ions, Mn 4+ , a commonly used red phosphor activator with excellent optical properties and low cost, can be self-reduced in some unique crystal structures in an air environment (Mn 4+ -Mn 2+ ), e.g., NaMg(PO 3 ) 3 :Mn 2+ , 14 Ba 3 BP 3 -O 12 :Mn 2+ , 15 b-KMg(PO 3 ) 3 :Mn 2+ , 16 BaXP 2 O 7 :Mn 2+ (X = Mg/Zn), 17 NaZn(PO 3 ) 3 :Mn 2+ , 18 etc., exhibiting high thermal stability and anti-quenching phenomena. Among them, the self-reduction of Mn 4+ results from a reaction between Mn 4+ ions and negatively charged defects: the non-equivalent substitution of Mn 4+ with the host ions creates defects that can provide electrons for selfreduction.…”