Reddish orange long afterglow phosphor Ca2SnO4:Sm3+ prepared by sol-gel method

A reddish orange light emissive long afterglow phosphor, Ca2SnO4:Sm3+ was prepared by sol-gel method at lower temperature. The synthesized phosphors were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron micrograph images, photoluminescence spectra, afterglow decay curves and thermoluminescence spectra. Three emission peaks locate at 565 nm, 609 nm and 655 nm corresponding to CIE chromaticity coordinates of x = 0.53 and y = 0.47, which indicates the reddish orange light emitting. The fluorescent intensity and the afterglow characteristic depends on the concentration of Sm3+ and the optimized concentration is 1.5 mol%. The afterglow decay curves are well fitted with triple-exponential decay models. The thermoluminescence glow curves show that the Sm3+ induces suitable trap depth and result in the long afterglow phenomenon, and the corresponding increase or decrease in afterglow is associated with trap concentration, nearly no change in trap depth. The 1.5 mol% Sm3+-doped Ca2SnO4 sample has the biggest trap concentration and exhibit the best afterglow characteristic, its' afterglow time is about 1 h. The phosphorescence mechanism of this long afterglow phosphor was discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.