Crystallinity and luminescent properties of citrate sol–gel derived BAM phosphor

By adopting a facile citrate sol–gel process, pure well-crystallized BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+(BAM) blue phosphors were successfully prepared. The crystallinity, particle size, morphology, chemical composition and luminescent properties were characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDS and spectrofluorometer respectively. The results indicated the precursor was amorphous below 800 °C, and begun to crystallize at 1100 °C. The synthesis temperature decreased by about 300 °C compared to solid-state method to prepare BAM. FE-SEM images showed a well-crystallized, platelet morphology with a particle size of 1–3 μm. The obtained BAM phosphors were fine powders and had higher luminescent intensity compared to solid-state derived BAM phosphors due to high purity and perfect crystalline morphology.