Weak thermal quenching and tunable luminescence in Ce:Y3(Al,Sc)5O12 transparent ceramics for high power white LEDs/LDs

Realizing the high brightness solid-state lighting with the emission spectra similar to that of sun light is significantly challenged by the inherent deficiency of the luminescence spectrum and thermal robustness in the single sturctured Ce3+:Y3Al5O12 (Ce:YAG) transparent ceramic (TC). In this study, based on the idea of energy band engineering, the energy splitting intensity of 5d level and the energy gap between the ground band and the 5d1 energy level of Ce3+ ion in Ce:YAG TC were effectively modified via Sc doping. A series of Ce:Y3Al5−xScxO12 (Ce:YASG) TCs were fabricated with impressive properties, showing a decreased stokes shift and a distinct blue-shift (541 → 520 nm) with broadened full width in emission spectra. Particularly, the prepared TCs exhibited a desired thermal stability (only ~6% luminescent intensity loss at 150 °C) and high internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of 84.2%. The optimal composition between Ce3+ and Sc3+ ions was investigated by constructing the Ce:YASG and (Y1−yCey)3Al4ScO12 (YCASG) TC-based white LEDs/LDs in a remote excitation mode. Both the luminous efficiency of radiation (LER) as high as 218 lm/W and tunable color from pale-green (pale-white) to yellowish white (pale-green) region were obtained. Therefore, the Ce:YASG TC is a highly promising color conversion material for high power lighting and displaying applications in the future.