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Coprecipitation with rare‐earth nitrate, ammonium sulfate, and ammonium hydroxide produced hydroxide‐type amorphous precursors incorporating sulfate and carbonate anions, from which [(Gd1−xLax)0.99Tb0.01]2O2SO4 and [(Gd1−xLax)0.99Tb0.01]2O2S (x = 0, 0.15, 0.3, 0.5, 0.65, 0.8, and 1) were obtained as two series of nanophosphors by calcination at 950°C in air and hydrogen, respectively. The detailed characterization by X‐ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscopy/transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and particle sizing confirmed that solid solutions were directly formed and that the products have small crystallite size, unimodal size distribution, and high specific surface area, revealing the advantages of the synthesis method. Photoluminescence study revealed that La3+ admixture may significantly improve the 545 nm main emission of Tb3+ for both the phosphor series. Furthermore, the 545 nm main emission of [(Gd1−xLax)0.99Tb0.01]2O2SO4 was identified to have an excellent thermal stability, which retained over 90% of its room‐temperature intensity at 150°C (no quenching for Gd2O2SO4:Tb3+). The two series of phosphors were comparatively studied for their excitation and luminescence performances, as a function of temperature and La3+ content, and the results were rationalized by considering bandgap, crystal structure, UV absorption, and the character of chemical bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-brightness laser lighting requires high luminous efficacy and high thermal performance of luminescent materials. In this study, we designed and fabricated single-phase YAG:Ce ceramics with differential grain sizes by combining the coarse commercial phosphor and fine powder of precusor. The large YAG:Ce grains mainly contribute to excellent luminescence properties. The small YAG:Ce grains not only change the direction of light propagation to improve the luminous efficiency but also effectively increase the Ce3+ content to improve the absorption of blue light, which significantly further enhance the luminescence properties compared with the second phase in the YAG:Ce-base composite ceramics. The luminescent ceramic with 40 wt% large grains sintered under 1550 °C has the highest luminous efficacy of 398.5 lm/W. Compared with the Al 2 O 3 –YAG:Ce composite ceramic, the single-phase YAG:Ce ceramic effectively increased the absorption of blue light to enhance the luminescence properties without the adverse effects caused by the transverse scattering of light in the Al 2 O 3 phase. After encapsulating the ceramic onto a radiator, a high luminous flux of 7697.6 lm under the blue-laser excitation of 3.0 A (54.6 W) was obtained. These indicated its broad application prospects in high-power solid-state laser lighting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long persistent luminescence materials developed to commercial standards are primarily concentrated in the blue and green regions, with only a few in the red region. Red, as one of the three basic colors, can be mixed in various proportions with blue and green to yield various colors. The development of red persistent phosphors has a broader application potential but remains a challenge. A solid-state reaction method was used to synthesize new red persistent luminescent materials of Ba 1- x Sr x Ga 2 O 4 :Sm3+ (x = 0–0.09). In BaGa 2 O 4 , both Sr2+ and Sm3+ preferentially occupy the Ba2+ site rather than the Ga3+ site. When exposed to UV light at 254 nm, the phosphors emit the characteristic red emission of Sm3+ at wavelengths ranging from 500 nm to 750 nm. After removing the UV light source, an intense red afterglow that lasted more than 1400 s was observed. The red afterglow signal reappears after a heating process. Doping Sr2+ reduces the trap depth and improves the red persistent luminescence significantly. Because the escaped electrons from traps compensate for the emission loss of Sm3+ during the heating process, the red phosphors have unimaginably luminescent thermal stability. Thus, the emission intensity at 200 °C is 1.6 times that at room temperature. The prepared red persistent phosphors show multimode luminescence, with the output signal being time and temperature sensitive, indicating that they are potential luminescent materials for anti-counterfeiting applications. Finally, a building-block strategy for advanced anti-counterfeiting applications of dynamic display information is proposed, with red persistent phosphors serving as an important component combined with upconversion phosphors of NaYF 4 :Yb3+, Tm3+, and green persistent phosphors of SrAl 2 O 4 :Eu2+, Dy3+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uniform phosphor mono-spheres have received continuously increasing attention owing to their excellent luminescence properties. Submicron/near micron-sized Lu 2 O 3 :Eu mono-spheres were successfully prepared by a facile and modified homogeneous precipitation technique from corresponding single-source precursor of Lu(OH)CO 3 :Eu⋅ n H 2 O, without the assistance of any dispersants. The sizes of the precursor spheres can be tuned in the range of 56–790 nm via controlling the primary particle nucleation and particle growth in the homogeneous precipitation. After calcination at 1000 °C, the synthesized precursor spheres (165–790 nm) were converted to Lu 2 O 3 :Eu (110–630 nm) without changing their original spherical shape and excellent dispersion. The particle size-dependent photoluminescence properties of Lu 2 O 3 :Eu mono-spheres were investigated in detail. Enhanced photoluminescence intensity, shorter lifetime, higher external quantum efficiency and almost the same CIE chromaticity coordinates were observed for a particle size of 480 nm. Moreover, temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra indicated the obtained phosphor mono-spheres have good thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doping Gd2LuAl5O12:Ce with a Ca2+/Si4+ pair produced a series of Gd1.97−xLuCaxAl5−xSixO12:0.03Ce (x = 0.0–1.2) garnet new phosphors, and remarkable regulation of the crystal structure and Ce3+ luminescence was achieved. Rietveld refinement and spectral analysis revealed that greater incorporation of Ca2+/Si4+ led to a higher lattice rigidity by cell contraction, a narrower bandgap, a longer average bond length/less distortion of the [CeO8] dodecahedron and decreased centroid shift/crystal field splitting of the Ce3+ 5d energy level. A blue-shifted 4f–5d1 transition, a narrower emission band, improved thermal stability of luminescence and a shorter fluorescence lifetime were observed with increasing Ca2+/Si4+ content. Applying the yellowish-green-emitting Gd0.77LuCa1.2Al3.8Si1.2O12:0.03Ce optimal phosphor (x = 1.2), together with a commercial CaAlSiN3:Eu red phosphor, in 450 nm-excited LED lighting produced a low CCT of ∼3625 K and a high CRI/R9 of ∼95.2/94.8, indicating that the phosphor has application potential in high-performance w-WLED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, study on Cr3+‐doped zinc gallate and zinc gallogermanate persistent phosphors has become a hot topic in persistent luminescence and bio imaging areas, because of their near infrared (NIR) emission and long afterglow. However, regulation of efficient traps and improvement of persistent luminescence through bottom‐up design are the key challenge. Here, we recommend a new paradigm of chemical unit co‐substitution with [Mg2+‐Ge4+] substituting for [Ga3+‐Ga3+] in ZnGa2O4, which contributes to the opposite charged and distorted octahedral defects of MgGa′ and GeGa· in pair around the CrN2 ions. The formed defect clusters of MgGa′‐CrN2‐GeGa·, which are closely related to the trap depth, can be accurately regulated through varying the doping content of Mg2+/Ge4+ in the resulting spinel solid solutions of ZnGa2−x(Mg/Ge)xO4:Cr3+ (x = 0–1.25). Moreover, the defect clusters cannot only store and recharge visible and UV radiations that contributes to the long lasting NIR persistent luminescence but also can enhance the NIR emission intensity at ~695 nm. The persistent luminescence induced by UV light excitation exhibits an improvement at a deeper trap depth, but it follows an opposite law through visible light excitation. The prepared nanoparticles have the advantages of intense NIR emission, long lasting afterglow, and excellent rechargeability for visible/UV radiations, so they are the potential nanoprobes for long‐term bio imaging in living animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • (Gd 0.95 Eu 0.05) 2 O 2 SO 4 monospheres and nanoplates were selectively synthesized from a new type of precursor. • The mechanism and kinetics of composition/phase/morphology evolution were clarified. • The monosphere phosphor emits ∼ 1.35 times as strong as nanoplates. • The monosphere phosphor has a high thermal stability of luminescence (∼81% at 150 °C) Rare-earth oxysulfates (RE 2 O 2 SO 4) attracted attention for large-capacity oxygen storage, low-temperature magnetism and luminescence, whose preparation mostly involves toxic SO x gases and/or complicated procedures. In the phosphor field, monospheres are preferred for a number of applications due to their better luminescence and high packing density. With the simple reactants of RE(NO 3) 3 , Na 2 CO 3 and (NH 4) 2 SO 4 for hydrothermal reaction, dispersed monospheres and nanoplates were selectively synthesized for the recently discovered RE 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 SO 4 · n H 2 O (RE = Gd 0.95 Eu 0.05 , REOCSH) layered compound precursor, from which RE 2 O 2 SO 4 phosphors mostly retaining their precursor morphologies were facilely derived via calcination in air at 800 °C, without involving SO x. Solution pH was found to decisively determine the chemical composition and crystallization kinetics of the initial precipitate, and the possible mechanisms of phase/morphology evolution during hydrothermal treatment were proposed by comparatively investigating the temperature-course and time-course of REOCSH formation under the typical pH values of 6 and 7. It was revealed that (Gd 0.95 Eu 0.05) 2 O 2 SO 4 monospheres emit ∼1.35 times as strong as nanoplates (λ ex = 257 nm, λ em = 617 nm) and may retain as high as ∼81% of the room-temperature intensity at 150 °C. The phosphor monospheres were also analyzed to have a fluorescence lifetime of ∼1.32 ms at room temperature and an activation energy of ∼0.19 eV for the thermal quenching of luminescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of garnet-type Li 6 CaLa 2(1- x) Nb 2 O 12 : x RE phosphors (LCLN: x RE, RE = Pr, Sm, Tb and Dy) were prepared via sol-gel processing and subsequent calcination for the first time, with the course of phase evolution and the characteristics of the LCLN host and RE3+ luminescence being investigated in detail. It was found that ∼900–1000 °C is a suitable temperature for precursor calcination to produce the garnet phase and LCLN has a relatively low phonon energy (∼725 cm−1) and a relatively wide bandgap (∼4.53 eV) for luminescence. The LCLN:0.012Pr, LCLN:0.04Sm, LCLN:0.06 Tb and LCLN:0.06Dy typical phosphors were analyzed to have dominant excitation/emission bands at ∼278/489, 265/614, 268/549 and 264/581 nm, emission colors of white, orange, green and yellowish white, and fluorescence lifetimes of ∼0.43, 0.74, 0.90 and 0.44 ms, respectively. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence found that the four phosphors maintained ∼28, 37, 45 and 56% of their room-temperature intensities at 423 K, with activation energies for thermal quenching of ∼0.37, 0.29, 0.34 and 0.25 eV, respectively. The results demonstrated that the Li-stuffed LCLN garnet could be a suitable host for UV excitable multicolor phosphors. • ∼900–1000 °C is an appropriate temperature for precursor calcination to derive Li 6 CaLa 2 Nb 2 O 12 (LCLN) garnet. • The LCLN host is suitable for luminescence purposes. • The photoluminescence of Pr3+, Sm3+, Tb3+ and Dy3+ activators was comprehensively elaborated in LCLN. • The concentration quenching of Sm3+ luminescence in LCLN is dominantly resulted from electric dipole-dipole interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

● Multiform (Y 0.95 Eu 0.05)PO 4 crystals were attained via hydrothermal reaction. ● Increasing MA content leads to a tetragonal (t-) to hexagonal (h-) phase transition. ● A higher pH or PO 4 3- content favors the crystallization of t-(Y 0.95 Eu 0.05)PO 4. ● The (Y 0.95 Eu 0.05)PO 4 phosphors showed structure/morphology-dependent luminescence. [Display omitted] With maleic acid (MA) as an original and efficient structure/morphology modifier, tetragonal (t-) and hexagonal (h-) structured (Y 0.95 Eu 0.05)PO 4 nano/microcrystals with the diverse morphologies of nanoparticles, nanospindles, nanosquares, nanodisks and microprisms have been successfully synthesized via hydrothermal reaction at 180 °C for 24 h. The systematic study demonstrated that solution pH, MA/(Y 0.95 Eu 0.05)3+ molar ratio and PO 4 3-/(Y 0.95 Eu 0.05)3+ molar ratio are three crucial factors that synergistically determine phase structure and crystal shape/size of the product, and the underlying mechanisms were proposed. Photoluminescence of the (Y 0.95 Eu 0.05)PO 4 crystals was revealed to be strongly morphology/structure dependent, which was discussed in detail in terms of excitation, emission, asymmetry factor of luminescence, quantum yield, fluorescence decay, emission color and thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]