The reduction of Eu3+ to Eu2+ in BaMgAl10 O17:Eu and the photoluminescence properties of BaMgAl10 O17: Eu2+ phosphor

Abstract

The variations in emission intensities of AlO4 -tetrahedron-containing compound BaMgAl10 O17:Eu (BAM) phosphor prepared in different atmospheres is discussed in view of the structure of host compounds. A reduction phenomenon of Eu3+ → Eu 2+ was observed by emission and excitation spectra measurement in BAM for the first time. This reduction was explained by a charge compensation mechanism and the photoluminescence properties were discussed. By comparison, it was found that Eu2+ ions occupy three different lattice sites by substitution for Ba2+ ions in BaMgAl10 O17: Eu2+. BaMgAl10 O17: Eu2+ phosphors exhibited more excellent thermal stability when Eu2+ ions occupied more Eu (1) sites, and gave a dominating contribution for the photoluminescence when Eu2+ ions occupied Eu (2) sites. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.