A novel blue-purple Ce3+ doped whitlockite phosphor: Synthesis, crystal structure, and photoluminescence properties

At present, the rare earth (RE) ions doped phosphors have attracted more and more attention because of their excellent properties. In this paper, a series of novel blue-purple beta-Ca-3(PO4)(2):Ce3+ phosphors were synthesized by a high temperature solid phase method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectrum, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence excitation and emission spectra were used to investigate the crystal structure, composition and the luminescent properties of the resulting samples. The phosphor shows a strong absorption in the ultraviolet band. Under the excitation of 269 nm, the phosphor emits a strong purple fluorescence ranging from 360 to 520 nm. When Ce3+ doping content is 0.07 mol, the strongest luminescence intensity is reached, and the concentration quenching mechanism is dipole-dipole (d-d) interaction for Ce3+ based on Dexter theory. (C) 2020 Chinese Society of Rare Earths. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A series of novel blue-purple beta-Ca-3(PO4)(2):Ce3+ phosphors were successfully synthesized in this study, and their crystal structure and luminescent properties were investigated using various characterization techniques. The phosphor demonstrated the strongest luminescence intensity when the doping content of Ce3+ was 0.07 mol, with the concentration quenching mechanism being dipole-dipole interaction.