Luminescent properties of a reddish orange long afterglow phosphor SrSnO3:Sm3+

• The photoluminescence properties of SrSnO3:Sm3+ was investigated systematically.
• The long afterglow was observed in SrSnO3:Sm3+ phosphor for the first time.
• The mechanism of long afterglow was discussed in detail.

SrSnO3:Sm3+ persistent phosphor was successfully prepared by high temperature solid–state reaction method. The persistent phosphor was systematically studied by XRD, diffuse reflectance, photoluminescence (PL), persistent luminescence and thermoluminescence (TL) spectra. When irradiated by 254 nm ultraviolet light in advance, this phosphor shows a red-orange persistent luminescence dominated at ∼596 nm at room temperature. The dependence of Sm3+ contents on the PL and persistent luminescence properties were investigated. The TL and potential afterglow mechanism of the SrSnO3:Sm3+ phosphor was also discussed in this paper.