Color-tunable emission and non-contact optical temperature sensing performance in NaY9Si6O26: Ce3+, Eu3+ phosphors

In this article, the tunable-color emission properties of Ce3+/Eu3+ in NaY9Si6O26 phosphors were reported. Ce3+ and Eu3+ ions had effectively incorporated the sites of Na+ and Y3+ ions, which were revealed by Rietveld refinements.The site occupation preference of Ce3+ in cationic sites were discussed. The energy transfer from Ce3+ to Eu3+ ion under the 312 nm excitation was ascribed to dipole-dipole interaction mechanism based on Dexter's energy transfer theory of multipolar interaction, which makes NaY9Si6O26: Ce-3+,Ce- Eu3+ produce tunable-color emission. Additionally, the temperature dependent emission spectra of the powders were studied. Temperature sensing performances were reflected by the fluorescence intensity ratio based on different temperature dependent variation tendency of Ce3+ and Eu3+ ions. The maximum values of the absolute and relative sensor sensitivities of NaY9Si6O26: Ce3+, Eu3+ phosphors were about 0.0328 K-1 and 0.95 % K-1, respectively. Above all, NaY9Si6O26: Ce3+, Eu3+ phosphors show a promising prospect for optical thermometer applications.

Automated summary

This study reported the tunable-color emission properties of Ce3+/Eu3+ in NaY9Si6O26 phosphors, including the energy transfer mechanism and temperature-dependent emission spectra analysis, showing promising potential for optical thermometer applications.