Luminescence and energy transfer of Ce3+-Eu2+ in BaMg2(PO4)2

A series of Ce3+, Eu2+ and Ce3+-Eu2+ doped BaMg2(PO4)2 phosphors are synthesized by a high temperature solid-state method. Under the 323 nm radiation excitation, BaMg2(PO4)2:Ce3+ shows one emission band at 412 nm, which is attributed to the 4f05d1 → 4f1 transition of Ce3+ ion. Under the 335 nm radiation excitation, BaMg2(PO4)2:Eu2+ presents one emission band at 447 nm, which is assigned to the 4f65d1 → 4f7 transition of Eu2+ ion. The energy transfer from Ce3+ to Eu2+ in BaMg2(PO4)2 has been validated and proved to be a resonant type via a dipole-dipole interaction. The critical distance (Rc) of Ce3+ to Eu2+ in BaMg2(PO4)2 is calculated to be 30.7 Å. Moreover, the emission intensity and emission color of BaMg2(PO4)2:Ce3+, Eu2+ can be tuned by properly tuning the relative doping composition of Ce3+/Eu2+.