Synthesis and photoluminescence properties of Eu2+ activated CaO ceramic powders for near-ultraviolet chip based white light emitting diodes

In this paper, we synthesized series of Eu2+ activated CaO ceramic powders by conventional solid state reaction. Using NH4Cl as a reducing additives, the Eu3+ has been successfully reduced to Eu2+. An intense blue emission peaked at 460 nm from Eu2+ was observed. The luminescent intensity of the doping-optimized CaO:Eu2+ sample can be as high as 106% of commercial BAM blue phosphor under 400 nm near-ultraviolet (NUV) excitation. The effect of Eu2+ and NH4Cl contents on photoluminescence properties and crystal phase formation have been investigated, respectively. The thermal stable property which is an important performance for LED application has also been measured. The emission intensity at 120 °C can maintain 94% of that at room temperature. Our results suggest that CaO: Eu2+ ceramic powder could be used as a promising blue emitting phosphor for NUV chip based white LEDs.