Effect of microwave irradiation on surface characteristics and luminescent properties of BaMgAl10O17:Eu blue phosphor

BaMgAl10O17:Eu (BAM) has been an excellent blue-emitting phosphor due to its outstanding luminescence efficiency and purity for plasma display panels. An attempt of employing microwave irradiation to modify the surface properties including morphology and crystallinity of BAM powder was performed in this work. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the blue-emitting phosphors after microwave irradiation treatment exhibit better crystallinity and smoother surface. Furthermore, the vacuum ultraviolet photoluminescence spectra show that the luminescent intensity of BAM phosphors can be effectively enhanced by a factor of six times under microwave irradiation treatment. The enhanced luminescent properties can be closely related to the surface modification and reduced defects of the BAM blue-emitting phosphors.