Solid state synthesis, characterization and optical properties of Tb doped SrSnO3 phosphor

• A new stannate phosphor, SrSnO3:Tb3+ was synthesized by solid state reaction method.
• The role of Tb3+ doped into SrSnO3 was discussed.
• A structural phase transition in SrSnO3:Tb3+ at ∼270 K was suggested.

In the present study, the structural and optical properties of SrSnO3 doped with Tb ions are reported. Novel SrSnO3:Tb3+ phosphors were conventionally synthesized using a solid state reaction process under a mildly reduced atmosphere (5%H2 and 95%N2). The crystal structures, morphologies and optical properties of the resultant materials have been characterised by experimental techniques such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (RS), Photoluminescence (PL), Radioluminescence (RL) and Cathodoluminescence coupled to an ESEM (ESEM-CL). The new phosphor material has good crystallization without any impurity phases, which matches with the standard JCPDS files (No. 22-1442) from XRD analysis. The PL, RL and CL measurements taken at room temperature showed that the transitions of 5D4 to 7FJ (j = 6, 5, 4, 3) corresponding to the typical 4f → 4f dipole forbidden intra-configurational transitions of Tb3+ are largely independent of the host material. The green emissions of the 5D4 → 7F5 magnetic dipole transition at ∼540 nm are predominant for three types of luminescence. PL emission spectra recorded in the temperature range from 10 K to 300 K were influenced by temperature. We report anomalies in the PL spectra of SrSnO3:Tb3+ compatible with a structural phase transition at 260 K while simultaneously exciting and cooling the sample. This work clearly confirms the existence of a phase transition discovered by Singh et al. in SrSnO3 at 270 K.

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