Novel red-emitting phosphor Ba3ZrNb4O15:Pr3+: The structure, characteristic photoluminescence property and thermal quenching behaviour investigation

Abstract Pr3+ activated niobate phosphors Ba3-xZrNb4O15:xPr3+ were firstly synthesized through high temperature solid-state method. The phase purity, crystal structure, morphology, luminescence property as well as thermal quenching behavior were carefully determined by using X-ray diffractometer, scanned electron microscope, photoluminescence and temperature dependent emission spectra, respectively. The luminescent property showed that Ba3-xZrNb4O15:xPr3+ (0.002 ≤ x ≤ 0.03) had dominate excitation around 451 nm and could exhibit red emissions peaking at 608, 618 and 651 nm, attributed to the 1D2-3H4, 3P0-3H6 and P0-3F2 transitions of Pr3+ ions. The different concentration quenching behaviors were found while the related mechanism was investigated. The room temperature decay times and the related fluorescence dynamics process of Pr3+ ions in Ba3ZrNb4O15 were investigated. In addition, the optimal doping contents, CIE chromaticity coordinates as well as the color purity were determined. At last, the temperature sensitive emission quenching and decay behavior were discussed and the activation energy was calculated based on Arrhenius equation.