Synthesis and photoluminescent properties of high-efficient color-tunable Ba3Y2B6O15: Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphors

High-efficient Ce3+/Tb3+ co-doped Ba3Y2B6O15 phosphors with multi color-emitting were firstly prepared, and their structural and luminescent properties were studied by XRD Rietveld refinement, emission/excitation spectra, fluorescence lifetimes as well as temperature-variable emission spectra. Upon 365 nm excitation, the characteristic blue Ce3+ band along with green Tb3+ peaks were simultaneously found in the emission spectra. Moreover, by increasing concentration of Tb3+, a blue-to-green tunable emitting color could be realized by effective Ce3+ -> Tb3+ energy transfer. Furthermore, all Ba3Y2B6O15: Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphors exhibit high internal quantum efficiency of similar to 90%, while the temperature-variable emission spectra reveal that the phosphors possess impressive color stability as well as good thermal stability (T-50 = 120 degrees C). The results indicate that these efficient color-tuning Ba3Y2B6O15: Ce3+, Tb3+ might be candidate as converted phosphor for UV-excited light-emitting diodes.