Self-activated rare-earth free phosphor prepared by propylene glycol-modified silane

Abstract

A facile wet-chemistry method can be applied to produce efficient rare-earth-free LED phosphors. In this study, self-activated Ca2SiO4 phosphor was developed using a propylene glycol-modified silane (PGMS) as a silicate source. The structural and luminescence properties of samples were characterized using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, respectively. The PGMS phosphor consists of mixed crystal phases of α′L, β, and γ, whereas the solid-state reaction (SSR) phosphor only has a β phase. The synthesized PGMS phosphor with distinctive crystal defects shows self-activated luminescence, while the SSR phosphor has no PL properties.

Keywords

• Ca2SiO4
• Sol-gel synthesis
• Self-activated photoluminescence
• Synchrotron-based X-ray