Synthesis and luminescent properties of a new cyan afterglow phosphor CaSnO3: Gd3+

Abstract This paper reports the photoluminescence and afterglow behavior of Gd 3+ in CaSnO 3 matrix (CaSnO 3 : Gd 3+ ) prepared via a solid-state reaction. X-ray diffraction (XRD), photo luminescence spectroscope (PLS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), afterglow spectroscopy (AS) and thermal luminescence spectroscope (TLS) were performed to investigate the physical properties of the phosphor. Based on the excitation and emission spectra, topical triplet-to-singlet (T 1 →S 0 ) transitions of Sn 2+ ions were detected. CIE chromaticity coordinates of x =0.2843, y =0.3768, calculated from the emission spectra, confirmed a cyan light emitting of the CaSnO 3 : Gd 3+ phosphors. And the XPS demonstrate the existence of Sn 2+ ions caused by the doping of Gd 3+ ions. The CaSnO 3 : Gd 3+ phosphors showed a typical afterglow behavior when the UV source was switched off. Thermal simulated luminescence study indicated that the persistent afterglow of CaSnO 3 : Gd 3+ phosphors was generated by the suitable electron or hole traps which were resulted from the doping the calcium stannate host with rare-earth ions (Gd 3+ ). Lastly, a model was proposed on the basis of experimental results to discuss the afterglow mechanism of CaSnO 3 : Gd 3+ phosphors in detail.