Blue to green emission and energy transfer between Ce3+ ions in Ca15Si20O10N30

A near-ultraviolet (near-UV) excited phosphor, Ca15Si20O10N30:Ce3+, was synthesized by a solid state reaction, and its crystal structure and luminescence properties were investigated in detail. Ca15Si20O10N30 crystallizes in a cubic unit cell with the space group Pa (3) over bar and the lattice parameters are determined to be a = b = c = 15.4195(3) angstrom. The maximum emission wavelength can be tuned from about 470 to 520 nm as the content of Ce3+ increases due to the energy transfer between various Ce3+ activators located in different coordination environments, which was verified by the time-resolved emission spectroscopy (TRES) and the variation in the decay rate with respect to the detection wavelength. Upon excitation at 365 nm, Ca15Si20O10N30:Ce3+ exhibited a relatively low thermal quenching, and the T-50 is measured to be 233 degrees C. The above results indicate that Ca15Si20O10N30:Ce3+ is a promising candidate for application in white light-emitting diodes (LEDs).