Bright blue phosphors in ZnO–WO3 binary system discovered through combinatorial methodology

Abstract

We screened bright blue phosphor materials for a ZnO–WO3 binary system. The film was deposited by combinatorial pulsed laser deposition at room temperature and then annealed. The film composition changes continuously in a full-range from ZnO to WO3 on a single substrate. We obtained two results from the distribution of blue emission-intensity observed by cathodoluminescence of the film: (1) not only did the film have a W composition of 50 mol % (stoichiometric ZnWO4 as the well-known blue phosphor material) but also the W composition region from 45 to 60 mol % had the most emissive phase, and (2) two emissive phases other than the ZnWO4, which have not been described in the phase diagram, were found in the W composition region from 10 to 20 mol % and from 65 to 75 mol %.