Long-wavelength broadband near-infrared (NIR) phosphors
have attracted
considerable interest in the fields of medical cosmetology and organic
detection because of their special emission band. Herein, Ca2GeO4(CGO): Cr4+ NIR phosphor, presenting a
broadband emission with longer wavelength ranging from 1100 to 1600
nm, has been synthesized. Further, the luminescence intensity and
quantum efficiency of Cr4+ could be obviously improved
via the energy transfer from Eu3+ to Cr4+. The
energy transfer is dominated by the dipole–dipole mechanism,
which can be inferred from the spectra and the decay curves. Furthermore,
in order to evaluate the potential application, an NIR phosphor-converted
light-emitting diode (pc-LED) based on blue chip has been prepared.
Consequently, CGO: Eu3+, Cr4+ exhibits proper
output power and wider half-width than the NIR LED chip, indicating
its great prospect for long-wavelength NIR pc-LED applications.