Solid state synthesis, characterization and optical properties of Tb doped SrSnO3 phosphor

In the present study, the structural and optical properties of SrSnO3 doped with Tb ions are reported. Novel SrSnO3:Tb3+ phosphors were conventionally synthesized using a solid state reaction process under a mildly reduced atmosphere (5% H-2 and 95% N-2). The crystal structures, morphologies and optical properties of the resultant materials have been characterised by experimental techniques such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (RS), Photoluminescence (PL), Radioluminescence (RL) and Cathodoluminescence coupled to an ESEM (ESEM-CL). The new phosphor material has good crystallization without any impurity phases, which matches with the standard JCPDS files (No. 22-1442) from XRD analysis. The PL, RL and CL measurements taken at room temperature showed that the transitions of D-5(4) to F-7(J) (j = 6, 5, 4, 3) corresponding to the typical 4f -> 4f dipole forbidden intra-configurational transitions of Tb3+ are largely independent of the host material. The green emissions of the D-5(4) -> F-7(5) magnetic dipole transition at similar to 540 nm are predominant for three types of luminescence. PL emission spectra recorded in the temperature range from 10 K to 300 K were influenced by temperature. We report anomalies in the PL spectra of SrSnO3:Tb3+ compatible with a structural phase transition at 260 K while simultaneously exciting and cooling the sample. This work clearly confirms the existence of a phase transition discovered by Singh et al. in SrSnO3 at 270 K. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.