Luminescent Properties of a White Afterglow Phosphor CdSiO3:Dy3

Novel one-component phosphors, Cd1 - x Dy x SiO3, which emit white color long-lasting phosphorescence upon UV light excitation, are prepared by the conventional high-temperature solid-state method and their luminescent properties are systematically investigated in this paper. XRD, photoluminescence, long-lasting phosphorescence, and thermoluminescence spectra are used to characterize the synthesized phosphors. These phosphors are well-crystallized by calcination at 1050 °C for 5 h. After irradiation under 254-nm UV light, these phosphors emit white light and their phosphorescence can be seen with the naked eye in the darkroom clearly, even after the irradiation light sources have been removed for more than 5 h. The possible mechanism of this white-light-emitting long-lasting phosphor is also investigated.