Enhanced emission from Li2CaSiO4:Eu2+ phosphors by doping with Y3+

• Lager increases in the emission have been achieved by doping Y3+ in Li2CaSiO4:Eu2+.
• The enhancement mechanism is due to the increase number of Eu2+ with Y3+ doping.
• Li2CaSiO4:Eu2+,Y3+ is useful for phosphor converted white LEDs and display devices.
• Li2CaSiO4:Eu2+,Y3+has higher emission intensity than BAM upon 375 nm excitation.

Y3+ doped Li2CaSiO4:Eu2+ phosphors were synthesized by the solid state reaction method. Lager increases in the emission have been achieved by doping Y3+ in the host. Upon 375 nm excitation, the present synthesized phosphors have higher emission intensity than that of the commercial blue phosphor, BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+. The doping effects of Y3+ were discussed systematically based on the analysis of structure, morphology, element, and spectroscopic properties. XRD patterns and EDS spectrum revealed that the samples maintained Li2CaSiO4 phase after doping Eu2+ and Y3+. SEM images showed the morphology and particle size of all phosphors were similar. DRS showed doping Y3+ could enhance the absorption of Li2CaSiO4:Eu2+. Finally, the enhancement mechanism was studied in detail. It was also observed that the emission of Li2CaSiO4:Eu2+ could also be enhanced by doping other rare earth ions RE3+ (RE = Dy, Er, Sm, Tm, Tb, and Yb), which could confirm the mechanism. These results provided a useful basis for further improving the luminescence performance of silicate phosphors.