Photoluminescence Properties of Novel BaLiZn3(BO3)3:RE (RE = Sm3+, Tb3+, Dy3+, and Pb2+) Blue, Green, Orange-Red Emitting Phosphors for White Light Emitting Diodes

A new class of BaLiZn 3 (BO 3 ) 3 :RE (RE = Sm 3+ , Tb 3+ , Dy 3+ , and Pb 2+ ) phosphors were synthesized with a solid- state reaction method. The minor concentrations of various rare earth (Tb 3+ , Dy 3+ , and Sm 3+ ) ions and transition metal (Pb 2+ ) ions activated in the BaLiZn 3 (BO 3 ) host matrix were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The XRD results of BaLiZn 3 (BO 3 )3:RE (RE = Sm 3+ , Tb 3+ , Dy 3+ , and Pb 2+ ) phosphors confirmed that all the samples have a monoclinic phase. SEM studies revealed that the morphology of BaLiZn 3 (BO 3 ) 3 :RE (RE = Sm 3+ , Tb 3+ , Dy 3+ , and Pb 2+ ) phosphors was irregular. The photoluminescence emission and excitation spectra show that these phosphors can be effectively excited by near-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (n-UV), and they all exhibit an efficient orange-red (Sm 3+ , 4 G 5/2 → 6 H 7/2 ), green (Tb 3+ , 5 D 4 → 7 F 5 ), yellow (Dy 3+ , 4 F 9/2 → 6 H 13/2 ), and blue (Pb 2+ , 3 P 1 → 1 S 0 ) emission. All of the above results confirmed that the obtained phosphors could be a potential candidate for n-UV-excited WLEDs.