Rapid synthesis and characterization of long afterglow BCNO phosphors by self-propagating combustion method

Abstract In this paper, non-rare-earth boron carbon oxynitride (BCNO) long afterglow phosphors were prepared by a rapid self-propagating combustion method. The precursor was obtained using boric acid, melamine and glycine as raw materials and then the BCNO phosphors with optimum luminescence properties were successfully synthesized after calcination of the precursor at 625 °C for 2 h in air atmosphere. The product and its luminescence properties were characterized with X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), excitation and emission spectra by fluorescence spectrometer. With the contents of increasing glycine, the luminescence emission peaks of as-prepared BCNO phosphors appear distinctly redshift, which is closely induced by the presence of different types of defects including the paramagnetic centre of nitrogen vacancies (VN), carbon and oxygen related impurity. In addition, the blue-purple emitting phosphors still remain long-lasting luminescence after stopping irradiation by UV light for 10 min. The developed BCNO phosphors have great practical applications in display, illumination, solar cell and biomedical fields.