“…The photoluminescence (PL) intensity increase is generally ascribed to the formation of defect levels in the phosphor, which can capture electrons and then release them with increasing temperature, causing the increase of the PL intensity. 40,41 Because of the effect of defects in increasing the thermal stability, this Bi 3+ -doped phosphor can remain at 84.2% of the initial quantum yield (at room temperature) when the temperature was increased up to 150 C. The yield is better than that of Y 2 O 3 :Eu 3+ (approximately 81%) and comparable to commercial Sr 2 Si 5 N 8 :Eu 2+ (approximately 85%), [42][43][44] and is much higher than that without Bi 3+ doping (70.1%). This thermal stability enhancement is different from the traditional reduction of cross relaxation or thermal ionization, 45,46 mainly ascribing to the appropriate amount of defects created by Bi 3+ doping.…”