Photoluminescence properties and energy transfer between activators at different crystallographic sites in Ce3+ doped Sr2MgAl22O36

In this paper, a series of Ce3+ doped Sr2MgAl22O36 (SMA) phosphors have been prepared by high temperature solid-state reaction method. The phase structure of prepared samples was checked by the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology of the samples was inspected using a field-emission scanning electron microscope (SEM). Under different UV radiation, this phosphor exhibits different emission bands due to the Ce3+ ions located at different lattice sites. The corresponding luminescence and energy transfer mechanisms have been proposed in detail. The phosphor exhibits different concentration quenching mechanisms because the Ce3+ ions substitute two different crystallographic sites in the host. Moreover, the temperature dependent emission properties of SMA:Ce3+ were conducted from 30 °C to 200 °C, as much as 72.96% of the room-temperature emission intensity is retained at 150 °C. The SMA:Ce3+ phosphor exhibits bright blue emission with CIE coordinates (x=0.16, y=0.12) under UV excitation. The results indicate that SMA:Ce3+ phosphor has great potential applications in UV-pumped light emitting diodes.