Luminescence properties of Pr3+ doped (Y0.9La0.1)2O3 transparent ceramics for potential applications in white LEDs and scintillators

(PrxY0.9La0.1)2O3 (x = 0.05, 1, 5) transparent ceramics were fabricated by conventional ceramic processing. The absorption, emission spectra excited by ultraviolet and X-ray as well as the excitation spectra have been investigated as a function of the Pr3+ concentration. The emission under ultraviolet excitation shows the ability of Pr3+ to downconvert ultraviolet light to blue emission. The strong excitation band at 430-520 nm is in good agreement with the emissions of InGaN blue chips (λem = 450-470 nm), which can be efficiently excited by the 470 nm light and generate bright red emission at around 630 nm. The radioluminescence spectra demonstrate the possible application of Pr3+: (Y0.9La0.1)2O3 in scintillator. In addition, the concentration quenching observed in the case of the P1 and P5 ceramics leads us to conclude that an optimum Pr3+ concentration to generate the best luminescence properties is achievable. Given overall luminescence properties, the low Pr3+ content (0.5 mol%) doped (Y0.9La0.1)2O3 transparent ceramic is a potential candidate for the applications in the ultraviolet-based and InGaN blue chip based white light-emitting diodes, as well as the scintillators.