Enhanced long lasting persistent luminescent SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy ceramics prepared by electron beam bombardment

Eu and Dy codoped strontium aluminate persistent luminescent (SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy) ceramics is prepared by E-beam bombardment. Surface morphology, crystalline structure, chemical composition, photoluminescence, and the decay characteristic were characterized by SEM, XRD, EDS, and the photoluminescence spectrometers, respectively. The results showed that, E-beam bombardment is a very efficient method to prepare persistent luminescent SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy ceramics, in which Eu3+ is reduced into Eu2+ without the help of any other reducing agents. This method is environmentally friendly, energy and time saving way to prepared oxide ceramics. The afterglow time of E-beam sintered SrAl2O4:Eu phosphor prepared by this method can be extended as long as 72 h.