Spectrochimica
Acta
Part
A
83 (2011) 340–
343
Contents
lists
available
at
SciVerse
ScienceDirect
Spectrochimica
Acta
Part
A:
Molecular
and
Biomolecular
Spectroscopy
jou
rn
al
hom
epa
ge:
www.elsevier.com/locate/saa
New
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
,
Mn
2+
phosphors
for
white
light-emitting
diodes
Liya
Zhou
∗
, Linghong
Yi, Xiaoming
Feng
School
of
Chemistry
and
Chemical
Engineering,
Guangxi
University,
Nanning,
530004,
China
a
r
t
i
c
l
e
i
n
f
o
Article
history:
Received
20
April
2011
Received
in
revised
form
27
July
2011
Accepted
24
August
2011
Keywords:
Optical
materials
X-ray
methods
Luminescence
a
b
s
t
r
a
c
t
A
series
of
Eu
2+
and
Mn
2+
co-doped
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
phosphors
were
prepared
by
solid-state
reaction
method.
X-ray
powder
diffraction
(XRD)
and
photoluminescence
excitation
and
emission
were
employed
to
characterize
the
phosphors.
The
results
show
that
energy
transfers
between
Eu
2+
and
Mn
2+
ions.
As
the
content
of
Ca
2+
ions
in
Ca
x
Sr
0.92−x
Al
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
0.06
,
Mn
2+
0.02
phosphors
increased,
the
CIE
coordi-
nates
decreased
and
close
to
the
white
color
standard
mandated
by
the
National
Television
Standard
Committee
(NTSC).
Meanwhile,
a
white
LED
(light-emitting
diode)
was
fabricated
by
combining
the
Ca
0.5
Sr
0.42
Al
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
0.06
,
Mn
2+
0.02
phosphors
with
a
370
nm
InGaN
chip.
The
color
coordi-
nate
of
the
fabricated
white
LED
was
also
close
to
the
white
color
standard,
indicating
that
the
Ca
0.5
Sr
0.42
Al
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
0.06
,
Mn
2+
0.02
phosphor
is
a
promising
single-host
phosphor
that
can
be
used
in
white
LEDs.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1.
Introduction
Phosphor-converted
white
light-emitting
diodes
(LEDs)
have
gained
much
attention
as
new
generation
solid-state
lighting
devices
because
they
are
environmental
friendly,
consume
less
energy,
and
have
long
lifetimes
[1–4].
White
LEDs
can
be
gener-
ated
using
two
different
methods,
one
of
which
is
to
combine
a
blue
chip
with
yellow
phosphor.
However,
the
resulting
white
LEDs
pose
problems,
such
as
having
a
low
color-rendering
index
(CRI),
low
luminous
efficiency,
and
high
color
temperature
[5–7].
Meanwhile,
another
approach
is
to
use
red,
green,
and
blue
light-emitting
phos-
phors,
in
which
tricolor
phosphors
are
pumped
by
ultraviolet
(UV)
InGaN
chips,
thereby
generating
white
light.
This
latter
method
is
the
current
focus
in
material
and
luminescence
research
because
of
its
advantages,
including
fine
color
temperature,
stability,
and
high
energy
efficiency
[8–10].
However,
the
obvious
shortcomings
come
from
the
property
differences
of
tricolor
phosphors.
For
example,
the
blue
light
is
easily
absorbed
by
green
or
red
phosphors,
resulting
in
lowered
external
quantum
luminous
efficiency
of
the
resulting
white
LEDs.
Therefore,
the
approach
of
using
single-host
phosphors
excited
by
near
UV
to
obtain
white
light
has
earned
great
interest
among
researchers
nowadays.
Aluminaborates
doped
with
rare-earth
ions
have
attracted
great
attention
because
of
their
high
UV
transparency
and
potential
applications
in
luminescence
material
due
to
their
good
chemi-
cal
stabilization
and
higher
radiant
efficiency
[11–13].
Recently,
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
has
been
proposed
as
a
non-linear
optical
material;
the
∗
Corresponding
author.
Tel.:
+86
771
3233718;
fax:
+86
771
3233718.
E-mail
address:
zhouliyatf@163.com
(L.
Zhou).
rhombohedra
structure
of
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
is
described
from
the
(BO
3
)
∞
planes
perpendicular
to
the
original
axis
being
linked
alternatively
by
Al–O–Al
bridges
and
Sr
atoms
[14,15].
However,
to
the
best
of
our
knowledge,
no
report
exists
on
evaluating
the
potential
appli-
cation
of
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
,
Mn
2+
phosphors
on
white
LEDs.
In
this
paper,
Eu
2+
and
Mn
2+
co-doped
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
phosphors
have
been
synthesized
using
the
solid-state
reaction
method.
Their
photolu-
minescent
properties
have
also
been
investigated.
2.
Experimental
2.1.
Preparation
of
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
,
Mn
2+
and
Ca
x
Sr
0.92−x
Al
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
0.06
,
Mn
2+
0.02
phosphors
The
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
,
Mn
2+
and
Ca
x
Sr
0.92−x
Al
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
0.06
,
Mn
2+
0.02
phosphors
were
synthesized
through
the
solid-state
reaction
method.
The
starting
materials
for
sample
preparations
included
CaCO
3
(A.R.
grade),
SrCO
3
(A.R.
grade),
Al
2
O
3
(A.R.
grade),
HBO
3
(A.R.
grade),
MnCO
3
(A.R.
grade,
and
Eu
2
O
3
(99.99%).
Stoi-
chiometric
amounts
of
raw
materials
were
mixed
homogeneously
in
an
agate
mortar
and
calcined
respectively
at
800
◦
C
and
900
◦
C
for
4
h
under
the
reducing
atmosphere
of
5%H
2
/95%
N
2
.
2.2.
Characterization
of
SrAl
2
B
2
O
7
:Eu
2+
,
Mn
2+
phosphor
Powder
X-ray
diffraction
(XRD)
(CuK(
=
1.5406
˚
A
Rigaku/Dmax-
2500,
Rigaku
Corporation,
Japan)
was
used
to
identify
the
structure
of
the
phosphors
in
the
2
range
of
10–70
◦
with
a
step
of
0.02
◦
.
Excitation
and
emission
spectra
were
recorded
on
a
Hitachi
F-2500
fluorescence
spectrophotometer
using
a
Xe
lamp
as
the
excita-
tion
source.
The
LED
parameters
were
measured
on
an
EVERFINE
1386-1425/$
–
see
front
matter ©
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.saa.2011.08.043