Luminescence properties and energy transfer investigations of Sr2B2O5:Ce3+,Tb3+ phosphors

Abstract Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ co-doped Sr 2 B 2 O 5 phosphors were synthesized by the solid-state method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize the phase structure. The luminescent properties of Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ co-doped Sr 2 B 2 O 5 phosphors were investigated by using the photoluminescence emission, excitation spectra and reflectance spectra, respectively. The excitation spectra indicate that this phosphor can be effectively excited by near ultraviolet (n-UV) light of 317 nm. Under the excitation of 317 nm, Sr 2 B 2 O 5 :Ce 3+ ,Tb 3+ phosphors exhibited blue emission corresponding to the f – d transition of Ce 3+ ions and green emission bands corresponding to the f – f transition of Tb 3+ ions, respectively. The Reflectance spectra of the Sr 2 B 2 O 5 :Ce 3+ ,Tb 3+ phosphors are noted that combine with Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ ion absorptions. Effective energy transfer occurred from Ce 3+ to Tb 3+ in Sr 2 B 2 O 5 host due to the observed spectra overlap between the emission spectrum of Ce 3+ ion and the excitation spectrum of Tb 3+ ion. The energy transfer efficiency from Ce 3+ ion to Tb 3+ ion was also calculated to be 90%. The phosphor Sr 2 B 2 O 5 :Ce 3+ ,Tb 3+ could be considered as one of double emission phosphor for n-UV excited white light emitting diodes.