Dual effect synergistically triggered Ce:(Y,Tb)3(Al,Mn)5O12 transparent ceramics enabling a high color-rendering index and excellent thermal stability for white LEDs

Ce:Y₃Al₅O₁₂ transparent ceramics (TCs) with appropriate emission light proportion and high thermal stability are significant to construct white light emitting diode devices with excellent chromaticity parameters. In this work, strategies of controlling crystal-field splitting around Ce³⁺ ion and doping orange-red emitting ion, were adopted to fabricate Ce:(Y,Tb)₃(Al,Mn)₅O₁₂ TCs via vacuum sintering technique. Notably, 85.4 % of the room-temperature luminescence intensity of the TC was retained at 150 °C, and the color rendering index was as high as 79.8. Furthermore, a 12 nm red shift and a 16.2 % increase of full width at half maximum were achieved owing to the synergistic effects of Tb³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions. By combining TCs with a 460 nm blue chip, a warm white light with a low correlated color temperature of 4155 K was acquired. Meanwhile, the action mechanism of Tb³⁺ ion and the energy transfer between Ce³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions were verified in prepared TCs.     

Rapid synthesis of Y3Al5O12 powders via plasma electrolysis

Yttrium aluminum garnet (Y₃Al₅O₁₂, YAG) is an important functional material. However, the strict and complicated preparation has limited its wide application. This study aimed to rapidly synthesize Y₃Al₅O₁₂ by plasma electrolysis for the first time. The prepared powder was studied from topography, structure and elements by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The powder had a good crystal form with a spherical shape. The single kind of diffraction peak of Y₃Al₅O₁₂ in XRD revealed the high purity of the synthesized powders. The study of the relationship between the applied voltage and the synthesized powder revealed a threshold voltage of 210 V under the present condition. The higher voltage led to the damage of the electrode due to excessive heat. The synthesis of the YAG powder had a melt-quench process. The two processes were carried out at the same time.     

CO2 laser post-treatment of sol-gel-derived Y3Al5O12:Ce phosphor ceramic powders

Cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce, YAG:Ce) was prepared using a sol-gel method and then fired for CO₂ laser post-treatments. Phase transformations and formation of impurities were not observed in YAG:Ce after CO₂ laser sintering. The shift of the diffraction peak and the appearance of another Raman peak indicate a more homogeneous distribution of Ce activators and enhanced crystallinity in laser-sintered YAG hosts. Larger spheres (100–200 μm) with tiny crystallites (<10 μm) were observed on the smoother surface in the laser-sintered YAG:Ce, unlike the irregular, porous, and layered powders in the sol-gel-derived YAG:Ce (1–100 μm). Photoluminescence (PL) measurements revealed an emission increase of 180% and a red shift of the emission peak for the laser-sintered YAG:Ce powders compared with the sol-gel-derived powders. Both have comparable thermal PL quenching behavior; however, the YAG:Ce powders with CO₂ laser treatment exhibited a PL efficiency improvement of approximately 4%.     

Competitive growth of Al2O3/YAG/ZrO2 eutectic ceramics during directional solidification: Effect of interfacial energy

The microstructure evolution and growth behavior of the Al₂O₃/Y₃Al₅O₁₂(YAG)/ZrO₂ ternary eutectic ceramics during directional solidification were well investigated. During directional solidification of the Al₂O₃/YAG/ZrO₂ ternary eutectic ceramics, {} Al₂O₃ paralleled with {001}ZrO₂ while they did not parallel with {001}YAG at the same time in the competitive growth stage. All of the interfaces parallel to each other finally. The area percentage of the Al₂O₃/ZrO₂ and YAG/ZrO₂ interfaces are 40.4 ± 0.2% and 30.8 ± 0.1%, respectively, higher than that of the Al₂O₃/YAG (28.8 ± 0.2%). The content of Al₂O₃ and YAG phases are 39.9% and 41.1%, respectively, almost double of that of ZrO₂. The interfaces of Al₂O₃/ZrO₂ and YAG/ZrO₂ are shorter and more dispersed than that of the Al₂O₃/YAG. It was found that the interfacial energy of Al₂O₃/ZrO₂ and YAG/ZrO₂ interfaces are lower than that of Al₂O₃/YAG. It can be concluded that interfacial energy plays a decisive role in affecting the crystallographic orientation and interfaces distribution in the Al₂O₃/YAG/ZrO₂ eutectic since the interfaces of Al₂O₃/ZrO₂ and YAG/ZrO₂ with lower interfacial energy can be formed more easily during directional solidification. Therefore, the contents of Al₂O₃/ZrO₂ and YAG/ZrO₂ interfaces are higher. This study can provide theoretical guidance for interface design of multi-phase materials.     

Doping manganese into CsPb(Cl/Br)3 quantum dots glasses: Dual-color emission and super thermal stability

CsPbX₃ (X = Cl, Br, I) perovskite quantum dots (QDs) represent bright and tunable photoluminescence, it is regrettable that the air instability and poor water resistant properties prevent their application in optoelectronic devices. At the same time, the toxicity of lead is also a major factor restricting its development. As a consequence, we demonstrate the partial replacement of Pb with Mn through conventional melt-quenching and heat-treatment method preparation of Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QD glass. Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QD glass exhibits high luminescent intensity like QDs. It is important that Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QD glass with Dual-Color maintained the same lattice structure like Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QDs, and highly homogeneous spectral characteristics of Mn luminescence. The intensity and position of this Mn-related emission are also tunable by altering the experimental parameters, such as the Pb-to-Mn feed ratio, annealing temperature. More importantly, the as-prepared orange Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QD glass was employed to fabricate white LEDs combined with a commercial Ce³⁺:Y₃Al₅O₁₂ phosphor-in-glass (Ce-PiG) on top of a InGaN blue chip. And the constructed WLEDs generate a warm white with an optimal luminous efficacy (LE) of 67.00 lm/W, a high CRI of 81.4, and a low CCT of 4902 K.     

Effect of air annealing on the optical properties and luminescence performance of Ce:YAG ceramics for light-emitting diodes at different Ce concentrations

(Y_1-x%Ce_x%)₃Al₅O₁₂ (x = 0.2,0.4,0.6,0.8,1.0) transparent ceramics were fabricated by vacuum sintering technology, followed by air annealing at different temperatures. Transmittance of ceramics, valence of cerium, and luminescent properties with varying annealing temperatures are studied in detail. The negative effect of Ce³⁺ oxidation induced by annealing gets increasingly evident when Ce concentration increases. Collaborating Ce:YAG ceramics with InGaN blue chips, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with superior performance were constructed. The relationships between Ce concentration, annealing temperature, and luminous flux of LEDs are elucidated, showing that the optimized annealing temperature of Ce:YAG ceramics decreases from 1200 °C to 900 °C as Ce concentration increases from 0.2 at% to 1.0 at%. The luminous fluxes of optimized LEDs increase by ～10 % compared with that of unannealed LEDs.     

High efficiency synthesis of Nd:YAG powder by a spray co-precipitation method for transparent ceramics

A spray co-precipitation method was developed to efficiently synthesize Nd:YAG nano-powders. The effects of spray speeds and solution concentrations on the crystallization processes of calcined precursors have been studied. The results indicated that the pure phase of YAG could be obtained by three different crystallization processes owing to different homogeneity levels of Y and Al mixing. Pure YAG powder was obtained at 850?°C and the phase purity persisted to 1600?°C. Using the obtained powders, transparent ceramics with the in-line transmittance up to 80.2%@400 nm and 83.1%@1064?nm were fabricated by gel-casting method and hot isostatic pressing sintering. Furthermore, the microstructure and laser properties of the transparent ceramics have been measured. The maximum laser output of 7.015?W has been obtained with an oscillation threshold and a slope efficiency of 0.235?W and 59.4%, respectively.     

Isothermal oxidation and TGO growth behaviors of YAG/YSZ double-ceramic-layer thermal barrier coatings

In this study, yttrium aluminum garnet/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YAG/YSZ) double-ceramic-layer thermal barrier coatings (DCL TBC) and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) single-ceramic-layer thermal barrier coatings (SCL TBC) were deposited by atmosphere plasma spray (APS) on the Inconel 738 alloy substrate, and isothermal oxidation tests were performed to investigate the formation and growth behavior of thermally grown oxide (TGO). Results showed that the Al₂O₃ TGO thickness of both TBC groups increased by increasing the isothermal oxidation time，and then slowly decreased with the appearance and growth of the adverse multilayer structure comprising CoCr₂O₄, (Ni,Co)Al₂O₄, NiCr₂O₄, and NiO mixed oxides. However, since the significant inhibition effect of the YAG coating to oxygen ionic diffusion, the mixed oxides appearance time and TGO growth behaviors were delayed in the DCL TBC. As a result, the TGO thickness of the DCL TBC was always smaller than that of the SCL TBC in the entire oxidation process. And the Al₂O₃ layer thickness proportion in the total TGO of the DCL TBC was greater than or equal to that of the SCL TBC after oxidation for the same period. The results of weight gain showed that compared with the SCL TBC, the parabolic oxidation rate of the DCL TBC was decreased approximately 35%. Consequently, the DCL TBC has better high-temperature oxidation resistance than the SCL TBC.     

Experimental research on micro hole drilling of polycrystalline Nd:YAG

Polycrystalline Nd:YAG materials have wide applications in solid-state lasers. In this study, micro hole drilling experiments were performed on polycrystalline Nd:YAG using a polycrystalline diamond micro drill. The hole diameter, edge chipping, and hole wall surface quality were examined in detail. The results showed that the hole diameter was slightly larger than tool diameter. A diameter error of less than 5.5% was achieved. The edge chipping at the entry hole was formed by the encircled petal shape exfoliations, which were produced by the indentation and rotation movement in the drilling entry stage. Edge chipping at the exit hole was generated by an entire piece of exfoliation, which was produced by a circle of microcracks around the tool tip propagating to the bottom surface in the drilling exit stage. The edge chipping width at the entry hole was smaller than that at the exit hole. Based on different material removal modes, the hole surface morphology was classified into three types: ductile removal, coexisting ductile and brittle removal, and brittle removal. The hole surface quality mainly depended on the proportion of the brittle fracture to ductile removal surface.     

Novel oxide fiber composites by freeze casting

A freeze casting process with gelatine as gelling agent is presented to manufacture novel oxide fiber composites. The growth of ice crystals causes an in situ densification of the green matrix when the composite is frozen after the lamination of 2D-fabrics. This freeze casting process leads to a porous matrix with a cellular morphology, showing no shrinkage during sintering. The porous structure is suitable for a subsequent infiltration with a precursor to densify the matrix. As the matrix is crack-free, the sintered composites have high mechanical properties. The processing is demonstrated by manufacturing laminated Nextel™610/YAG-ZrO₂ oxide fiber composites.