Tunable luminescence properties and energy transfer in Ba3Lu(PO4)3:Ce3+,Tb3+ phosphors

A series of novel color-tunable phosphors Ba3Lu(PO4)3:Ce3+,Tb3+ have been synthesized by solid-state reaction. X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence emission and excitation spectra, lifetime, as well as the effect of Tb3+ concentration were employed to characterize the resulting samples. The emission spectra of Ba3Lu(PO4)3:Ce3+,Tb3+ phosphor contains both the asymmetric broad-band Ce3+ ion emission and the line-type Tb3+ ion emission. Under ultraviolet light excitation, Ba3Lu(PO4)3:Ce3+,Tb3+ can achieve tunable emission from deep blue to yellowish-green by changing the concentration of Tb3+. The results indicated that these phosphors could be considered as double emission phosphors for field emission displays.