Synthesis and luminescent properties of Ba3Y3.88Gd0.12O9:Eu3+ phosphors with enhanced red emission

In this work, the Gd³⁺/Eu³⁺ activated Ba₃Y₄O₉ (BYO) phosphors were successfully synthesized via coprecipitation method at 1400 °C. The precursor composition, crystal structure stability, microscopic morphology, photoluminescence (PL)/photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra and fluorescence attenuation analysis of the phosphors are discussed in detail. The chemical composition of the precursor was determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and thermogravimetry (TG) analysis; According to field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis, it is found that the particle size of phosphor is uniform and the agglomeration is few. According to PL/PLE spectra analysis, Ba₃Y_3.28Eu_0.6Gd_0.12O₉ phosphors has the strongest excitation band at 260 nm and the strongest emission band at 614 nm, and the fluorescence intensity of Ba₃Y_3.28Eu_0.6Gd_0.12O₉ is higher than that of Ba₃Y_3.4Eu_0.6O₉. The quenching concentration of Eu³⁺ in Ba₃Y_3.88–4xEu_4xGd_0.12O₉ phosphors is x = 0.15 and the mechanism of quenching concentration of Eu³⁺ is electric dipole-quadrupole type interactions. The lifetime value of Ba₃Y_3.88–4xEu_4xGd_0.12O₉ (x = 0.15) phosphors is 0.686 ms and decreases with the increase of Eu³⁺ content. In addition, the CIE chromaticity diagram of Ba₃Y_3.28Eu_0.6Gd_0.12O₉ phosphors is (0.66, 0.34). Finally, the lamp beads assembled with Ba₃Y_3.28Eu_0.6Gd_0.12O₉ phosphors have an ideal luminous effect. Therefore, the Ba₃Y_3.88–4xEu_4xGd_0.12O₉ phosphors designed in this work may hopefully meet the requirements of various lighting and optical display applications.