Structural, Morphological, and Optical Properties of LaNbO4:RE3+ (RE = Dy, Dy/Sm, Sm) Phosphors

The effects of activator ion on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of $LaNbO_4:RE^{3+}$ (RE = Dy, Dy/Sm, Sm) phosphors were investigated. X-ray diffraction patterns exhibited that all the phosphors showed a monoclinic system with a main (112) diffraction peak, irrespective of the concentration and type of activator ions. The grain size showed a slightly decreasing tendency as the concentration of $Sm^{3+}$ ions increased. The excitation spectra of the $LaNbO_4:Dy^{3+}$, $Sm^{3+}$ phosphor powders consisted of a strong charge transfer band centered at 259 nm in the range of 220-290 nm and five weak peaks. The emission spectra of the $La_{0.95}NbO_4$:5 mol% $Dy^{3+}$ phosphors exhibited two intense yellow and blue bands centered at 575 nm and 479 nm respectively, which resulted from the $^4F_{9/2}{\rightarrow}^6H_{13/2}$ and $^4F_{9/2}{\rightarrow}^6H_{15/2}$ transitions of $Dy^{3+}$. As the concentration of $Sm^{3+}$ was increased, the intensity of the yellow emission band was gradually decreased, while those of orange and red emission bands centered at 604 and 646 nm began to appear and reached maxima at 5 mol%, and then decreased rapidly with further increases in the $Sm^{3+}$ concentration. These results indicated that white light emission could be realized by controlling the concentrations of the $Dy^{3+}$ and $Sm^{3+}$ ions incorporated into the $LaNbO_4$ host crystal.

LaNbO4:RE3+ (RE = Dy, Dy/Sm, Sm) 형광체의 구조, 표면, 광학 특성