Luminescence properties and energy transfer investigations of Sr3AlO4F:Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphor

Ce3+ and Tb3+ co-doped Sr3AlO4F phosphors were synthesized by the conventional high temperature solid-state method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize the phase structure. The luminescence spectra and decay lifetime curves of Ce3+ have been measured to prove energy transfer (ET) from Ce3+ to Tb3+. Under the excitation of near-ultraviolet light, Sr3AlO4F:Ce3+,Tb3+ phosphors exhibited blue emission corresponding to the f–d transition of Ce3+ ions and green emission bands corresponding to the f–f transition of Tb3+ ions, respectively. Effective energy transfer occurred from Ce3+ to Tb3+ in Sr3AlO4F host due to the observed spectra overlap between the emission spectrum of Ce3+ ion and the excitation spectrum of Tb3+ ion. The energy transfer efficiency from Ce3+ ion to Tb3+ ion was also calculated to be 51%. Furthermore, the energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ in Sr3AlO4F host was demonstrated to be resonant type via a dipole–dipole interaction mechanism. The present Ce3+ and Tb3+ co-doped Sr3AlO4F phosphor may have potential use in the technology of white light-emitting diodes.