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Herein, Ce3+ and Ce3+/Dy3+ co-doped Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 phosphors have been designed and synthesized via a facile citrate-based sol-gel technique, and their structural, photoluminescence properties and energy transfer phenomenon were investigated comprehensively. The XRD analysis indicated that pure Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 phase can be synthesized at low temperature (1000 °C) for merely 2 h. The photoluminescence spectra showed the dominant emission of Ce3+ singly doped phosphors is located in the blue region even at low Ce3+ doping level, which indeed favors the energy transfer from Ce3+ to other luminescent centers. When Dy3+ is co-doped into Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 :Ce3+ phosphors, the remarkable sensitizing effect of Ce3+ on Dy3+ is validated by comparatively analyzing the excitation, emission spectra and average lifetimes of the series of samples. Through the concentration quenching theory, the critical distance between Ce3+ and Dy3+ is calculated to be 13.50 Å. Furthermore, the energy transfer mechanism between them is most likely ascribed to electric dipole-dipole interaction. In virtue of the variation of the emission intensities of Ce3+ and Dy3+, the emitting colors of Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 :Ce3+, Dy3+ phosphors can realize tunable luminescence from deep blue to bluish-white region through controlling the Dy3+ content. Based on these analysis, Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 :Ce3+, Dy3+ phosphors could potentially be applied as a single-phase color-tunable phosphors pumped by near-ultraviolet (n-UV) radiation. • Developed a facile sol-gel method to prepare successfully Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 compound. • The blue emission of as-prepared Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 :Ce3+ phosphors dominates, which favors the energy transfer process. • The possible mechanism for the dominance of blue emission was discussed. • The energy transfer phenomenon in Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 :Ce3+, Dy3+ phosphors was investigated in detailed. • Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 :Ce3+, Dy3+ can serve as a single-phase color-tunable phosphors excited by near-ultraviolet radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]