Energy transfer and tunable luminescence properties in Y3Al2Ga3O12: Tb3+, Eu3+ phosphors

This paper demonstrates that a highly thermal stable and tunable-luminescence phosphors Y3Al2Ga3O12: Tb3+, Eu3+ with efficient energy transfer, which is prepared by the high-temperature solid-state reaction. First-principles method is performed to analyze the electronic structures, band structure, density of states and formation energy of Y3Al2Ga3O12: Tb3+, Eu3+. For high luminescence output, Y3-xAl2Ga3O12: xTb3+ and Y3-yAl2Ga3O12: yEu3+ with high concentration quenching (x = 0.5 and y = 0.7) are achieved. The effect of energy transfer from Tb3+ to Eu3+on emission color tuning and luminescence thermal stability is studied. The energy transfer efficiency from Tb3+ to Eu3+ reaches as high as 74.2% and emission color can be tuned from green, yellow and red by adjusting the ratio of Tb3+/Eu3+. What's more, Y3Al2Ga3O12: Tb3+, Eu3+ phosphor exhibits a good thermal stability, of which emission intensity still keeps 60% at 150 °C.