Crystal configuration and photoluminescent aspects of red-emitting combustion synthesized novel BaYZn3AlO7: Eu3+ nanophosphor

A facile and less time-consuming technique, namely, solution combustion synthesis (SCS) was employed for generating a series of novel BaY1-xZn3AlO7: xEu(3+) (x = 0.05-0.30) nanophosphor. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns supported with Rietveld refinement technique validated the subsistence of a pure hexagonal BaYZn3AlO7 phase belonging to P63mc (186) space group. Both Scherrer's equation as well as transmission electron microscope (TEM) study, were in strong agreement in terms of nano-size of the synthesized phosphor. The obtained nanostructures display a most prominent peak in their emission spectra at 611 nm owing to D-5(0)-> F-7(2) transition resulting in red-emission upon excitation by a source of near-ultraviolet (NUV) light (lambda(ex) = 393 nm). The observed CIE coordinates for this strong emission in an optimized nanophosphor (BaY0.80Eu0.20Zn3AlO7) were 0.592, 0.407. Judd-Ofelt parameter (Omega(2)) is evaluated for all compositions of combustion derived nanosamples utilizing their recorded emission spectra by applying Judd-Ofelt theory. The standard host and synthesized nanophosphor containing optimum concentration of Eu3+ i.e. BaY0.80Eu0.20Zn3AlO7 were examined via diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and the evaluated energy band gap were established to be 4.67 eV and 4.61 eV respectively. In addition, dipole-quadrupole interactions were apt to cause the observed concentration quenching (CQ) trend as the value of critical distance evaluated as 11.88 angstrom. Correlated color temperature (CCT) value for the optimized novel nanophosphor was similar to 1714 K confirming their applications in the warm light-emitting diodes (LEDs). (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.