Li doping effect on the photoluminescence behaviors of KSrPO4:Dy3+ phosphors for WLED light

•The luminescence intensity of KSrPO4:Dy3+ can be increased with Li+ ions co-doping.•The mechanisms for the emitting enhancement with Li+ ions co-doping were investigated.•The thermal stability demonstrated that KSrPO4:0.01Dy3+, 0.06Li+ is suitable for WLEDs.•The chromaticity coordinates of KSrPO4:Dy3+, Li+ can be tuned with Li+ ions increasing.

A novel warm-white phosphor KSrPO4 co-doped with Dy3+ and Li+ ions was prepared by solid state reaction. A strategy of Li+ doping was used with the aim of enhancing the luminescence of 475 nm and 570 nm emission bands under NUV excitation. Compared to lithium-free KSrPO4:Dy3+, the intensities of the 570 nm emission peaks were increased by 4.32 times and 2.84 times excited by 351 nm and 388 nm with 6 mol% Li+ ions co-doping, respectively. The mechanism of the enhancement was discussed, that is due to the improvement of the phosphors’ crystallinity and charge compensation when the Li+ ions were introduced. Furthermore, the thermal stability of KSrPO4:0.01Dy3+, 0.06Li+ was measured and discussed, demonstrating it can be applied for high-powered LED. And the chromaticity coordinates of KSrPO4:0.01Dy3+, xLi+ can be tuned efficiently from the cold-white region to warm-white region with Li+ ions increasing, presenting its potential applied value as a new warm-white LED phosphor.

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