Synthesis, luminescence and energy transfer of Ca₃GdNa(PO₄)₃F: Ce³⁺, Tb³⁺ phosphor with novel apatite structure

Abstract

A series of Ce 3+ /Tb 3+ singly doped and Ce 3+ , Tb 3+ co-doped Ca 3 GdNa(PO 4 ) 3 F phosphors were synthesized via high temperature solid-state reaction in a reductive atmosphere. The crystal, luminescence properties, energy transfer mechanism and thermal stability of the samples were investigated in detail. The Ce 3+ doped phosphors can be excited in the range from 250 to 330 nm. The Ce 3+ ,Tb 3+ co-doped phosphors exhibit characteristic emission of Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ simultaneously under the excitation of 301 nm. In addition, the energy transfer efficiency from Ce 3+ to Tb 3+ reaches as high as 78.6% when the doping amount of Tb 3+ is 0.20. The mechanism of energy transfer between Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ ions is demonstrated to be a dipole−dipole interaction. The luminescence characteristics show that this phosphor can be a platform for modeling a new phosphor and application in the solid-state lighting field.