Towards deliberate design of persistent phosphors: a study of La–Ga admixing in LuAG:Ce crystals to engineer elemental homogeneity and carrier trap depths

Abstract

This research investigated the crystal chemical principles related to the incorporation of incompatible atoms into the garnet host lattice. These considerations might be used to guide and drive the design...

Micro-Inclusion Engineering via Sc Incompatibility for Luminescence and Photoconversion Control in Ce3+-Doped Tb3Al5−xScxO12 Garnet

“…The presented crystals were fabricated via a controlled shaping process, yielding consistent geometric form. The maintained cylindrical shape of all crystal rods confirms the congruent melting of the material in all examined samples [ 9 , 11 , 34 , 35 ]. The resulting transparency demonstrated a pronounced dependence on the Sc 3+ ion concentration.…”

“…Aluminum garnets belong to the group of multifunctional materials due to their exceptional structural stability and compositional flexibility [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. This group of compounds exhibits a high degree of tolerance for doping ability and readily accepts a wide range of rare earth and/or transition metals [ 4 , 8 , 9 , 12 ].…”

“…Aluminum garnets belong to the group of multifunctional materials due to their exceptional structural stability and compositional flexibility [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. This group of compounds exhibits a high degree of tolerance for doping ability and readily accepts a wide range of rare earth and/or transition metals [ 4 , 8 , 9 , 12 ]. Aluminum garnets also exhibit a highly ordered, three-dimensional cubic lattice structure characterized by exceptional thermal stability, exhibiting no phase transitions across an extensive temperature range [ 13 ].…”

“…The absence of phase transitions in aluminum garnets, unlike in many materials (e.g., perovskites) that undergo structural changes at different temperatures, guarantees consistent material properties across a wide temperature range. This translates to a significant simplification of the crystal growth process from the melt and transparent ceramics sintering process, as the lattice structure does not change the phase during solidification, leading to crack-free material with high mechanical strength [ 2 , 3 , 8 , 9 ]. Therefore, aluminum garnets are important materials in diverse fields, including laser materials [ 14 ], scintillators [ 2 , 15 ], persistent luminescence phosphors [ 9 , 10 ], and photoconverters [ 1 , 8 , 11 ].…”

“…Unlike conventional synthesis relying on thermodynamic equilibrium, this approach induces kinetic barriers that facilitate the co-precipitation of metastable phases, effectively circumventing the limitations of equilibrium phase diagrams. Notably, this method facilitates the manipulation of multi-phase microstructures through the control of atomic radii mismatch and nonstoichiometric degree within the predominant phases, thereby enabling avenues for the design and development of novel materials with functional properties [ 8 , 9 , 21 , 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”