The energy transfer phenomena and colour tunability in Y₂O₂S:Eu³⁺/Dy³⁺ micro-fibers for white emission in solid state lighting applications

Abstract

This paper reports on the structural, optical and photometric characterization of an Eu(3+)/Dy(3+) doped yttrium oxysulfide phosphor (Y2O2S:Eu(3+)/Dy(3+)) for near white emission in solid state lighting. A series of Y2O2S phosphors doped with Eu(3+)/Dy(3+) were prepared by the hydrothermal method. The microstructures of the as-synthesized phosphors were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD results reveal that the obtained powder phosphors have a single-phase hexagonal structure and also indicate that the incorporation of the dopants/co-dopants did not affect the crystal structure. The SEM images reveal the morphology of the prepared phosphors as an intense interpenetrating network of interconnected micro-fibers with a diameter of about 0.15 μm. The band gap of the phosphors was calculated from diffuse reflectance spectra using the Kubelka-Munk function. The Eu(3+), Dy(3+) doped and Eu(3+)/Dy(3+) co-doped phosphors illuminated with ultraviolet light showed characteristic red luminescence corresponding to the (5)D0→(7)FJ transitions of Eu(3+) and characteristic blue and yellow luminescence corresponding to the (4)F9/2→(6)H15/2 or (4)F9/2→(6)H13/2 transitions of Dy(3+). The luminescence spectra, the energy transfer efficiency and the decay curves of the phosphors indicated that there exists a strong energy transfer from Dy(3+) to Eu(3+) and this was demonstrated to be a resonant type via a dipole-quadrupole reaction. Furthermore, the critical distance of the Eu(3+) and Dy(3+) ions have also been calculated. By utilizing the principle of energy transfer it was also demonstrated that with an appropriate tuning of the activator content the Y2O2S:Eu(3+)/Dy(3+) phosphors can exhibit a great potential to act as single-emitting component phosphors for white light emission in solid state lighting technology.