Silicon-based oxynitride and nitride phosphors for white LEDs—A review

TLDR

Oxynitride and nitride phosphors are a novel class of inorganic materials with versatile crystal structures that enable emission across the visible spectrum, making them promising for solid‑state lighting and display applications. The review surveys recent advances in the synthesis, structure, luminescence, and LED applications of silicon‑based oxynitride and nitride phosphors. Their SiN4 tetrahedral networks produce large crystal‑field splitting and a strong nephelauxetic effect, lowering the 5d excited state of doped rare‑earth ions. These phosphors exhibit a broad UV‑to‑visible excitation band that efficiently absorbs blue‑to‑green light, enabling high‑efficiency, chromatically stable, adjustable‑CCT white LEDs with excellent color rendering.

Abstract

As a novel class of inorganic phosphors, oxynitride and nitride luminescent materials have received considerable attention because of their potential applications in solid-state lightings and displays. In this review we focus on recent developments in the preparation, crystal structure, luminescence and applications of silicon-based oxynitride and nitride phosphors for white light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The structures of silicon-based oxynitrides and nitrides (i.e., nitridosilicates, nitridoaluminosilicates, oxonitridosilicates, oxonitridoaluminosilicates, and sialons) are generally built up of networks of crosslinking SiN4 tetrahedra. This is anticipated to significantly lower the excited state of the 5d electrons of doped rare-earth elements due to large crystal-field splitting and a strong nephelauxetic effect. This enables the silicon-based oxynitride and nitride phosphors to have a broad excitation band extending from the ultraviolet to visible-light range, and thus strongly absorb blue-to-green light. The structural versatility of oxynitride and nitride phosphors makes it possible to attain all the emission colors of blue, green, yellow, and red; thus, they are suitable for use in white LEDs. This novel class of phosphors has demonstrated its superior suitability for use in white LEDs and can be used in bichromatic or multichromatic LEDs with excellent properties of high luminous efficacy, high chromatic stability, a wide range of white light with adjustable correlated color temperatures (CCTs), and brilliant color-rendering properties.