Effect of annealing in hydrogen atmosphere on the photoluminescence properties of phosphor-in- glass in tellurate glass

•The phosphor-in-glass was prepared by one-step melt-quenching method.•The PL and PLE intensity was significantly enhanced after annealing in hydrogen atmosphere.•The XPS was carried out to examine the concentration of Ce3 + and Ce4 +.•The high sintering temperature can destroy crystal structure around the Ce3 +.

A series of phosphor-in-glasses (PIGs) was prepared by one-step melt-quenching method sintering the mixture of tellurate raw material powder and YAG:Ce3 + phosphors at 450-700 °C, of which some was annealed at 250 °C for 3 h under the hydrogen atmosphere. The test results show that the relative photoluminescence (PL) intensity of phosphor-in-glass sintered at 450-700 °C was significantly strengthened from 42.29% to 174.72% after the hydrogen annealing, and the relative photoluminescence excitation (PLE) intensity from 21.00% to 207.90%. However, the relative photoluminescence intensity of the PIG sintered at 700 °C before and after hydrogen annealing was nearly zero because of the destruction of crystal structural surrounding Ce3 + ion. The concentration of Ce3 + and Ce4 + measured by X-ray photoelectron spectrum analyser (XPS) in PIGs before and after hydrogen annealing obviously happened to change, which was associated with the variation of PL and PL excitation intensity. Besides, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of YAG:Ce3 + phosphor and PIGs sintered at different temperatures further presented the destruction of YAG:Ce3 + lattice as the sintering temperature increased. Therefore, the appropriate sintering temperature and hydrogen annealing can increase the PL and PLE intensity and the Ce3 + concentration.