The improvement of thermal stability of BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+ coated with MgO

The BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+ (BAM) as an efficient blue-emission phosphor has been used in tricolor fluorescent lamps (FLs) and plasma display panels (PDPs) because it has a deep blue color and a short decay time, but in the process of FL manufacturing, BAM, which spreads on the insides of a glass tub, is heated at 700-750 degrees C in air. The PDP manufacturing process also heats phosphor at 500-600 degrees C to make phosphor layers. These heat-treatments result in the luminance decrease. In this work, the BAM phosphors are covered with uniform and continuous MgO coatings via a precipitation route, which is expected to inhibit their surface oxidation. The results indicated that thermal stability was largely improved. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.