Lithium solubility limit in ZnGa2O4:Bi0.0013+,Li+ phosphor

The lithium solubility limit, photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) properties of lithium ion co-activated ZnGa2O4:Bi3+,Li+ phosphor have been investigated. A LiGaO2 second phase began to appear from 3 mol% Li+ ion co-activated ZnGa2O4:Bi3+,Li+ phosphor. The enhanced brightness of blue (λex = 254 nm) and white (λex = 315 nm) colors of bismuth ions doped ZnGa2O4:Bi3+,Li+ phosphor was assigned to the formation of LiGaO2. Bi3+ activated lithium zinc gallate phosphor showed a more enhanced PLE peak around 315 nm than that of lithium zinc gallate phosphor when λem = 520 nm. Thus, we observed that the PL intensity of ZnGa2O4:Bi3+,Li+ phosphor with λem = 520 nm was much greater than that of ZnGa2O4:Li+ phosphor. Also, ZnGa2O4:Bi3+,Li+ phosphor exhibited a shorter decay time than that of ZnGa2O4:Li+ phosphor by about a factor of about 2.