Photoluminescence properties and energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ in Zn2SiO4 host

Zn 2 SiO 4 : Tb 3+ , Zn 2 SiO 4 : Ce 3+ , Zn 2 SiO 4 : Tb 3+ , Ce 3+ phosphors were prepared by solidstate reaction at 1 150 °C for 2 h under a weak reducing atmosphere. Moreover, the XRD patterns and photoluminescence spectra were recorded and the effects of Tb 3+ and Ce 3+ concentration on the luminescent properties of as-synthesized phosphors were investigated. The emission spectra under ultraviolet light (333 nm) radiation showed a dominant peak at 542 nm attributed to the 5 D 4 → 7 F 5 transition of Tb 3+ , which was enhanced significantly (about 45 times) by the co-doping of Ce 3+ , indicating that there occurred an efficient energy transfer from Ce 3+ to Tb 3+ . According to the Dexter’s energy transfer formula of multipolar interaction, it was demonstrated that the energy transfer between Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ was due to the electric dipolar-dipolar interaction of the resonance transfer.