Enhance the luminescence properties of Ca14Al10Zn6O35:Ti4+ phosphor via cation vacancies engineering of Ca2+ and Zn2+

Abstract Ti 4+ -activated zinc calcium aluminate phosphors, owing to their excellent luminescence properties, nontoxicity, environment friendliness and low price, have a certain prospect in the field of plant cultivation. In this study, we have successfully synthesized a series of Ca 14-y Al 10-x Zn 6-z O 35 :xTi 4+ (CAZO:Ti 4+ ) phosphors through a high-temperature solid-state method. Furthermore, the emission spectrum of CAZO:Ti 4+ located in bluish violet-emitting band, and has an emission peak at 378 nm upon the excitation of 268 nm due to the charge transfer of Ti 4+ -O 2- . Moreover, the luminescence intensity of as-synthetized phosphors can be improved by cation vacancies engineering to compensate for charge unbalance. Especially, the luminescence intensity could be further improved when the Ca 2+ vacancy is 0.35 mol or the Zn 2+ vacancy is 0.275 mol. Furthermore, the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis and crystal structure are checked and confirmed that the synthesized material is pure phase. The concentration quenching mechanism, FT-IR spectra, UV–vis absorption properties, lifetimes and electron transition process of Ca 14-y Al 10-x Zn 6-z O 35 : xTi 4+ were discussed in detail. From the above, the phosphor has a potential application for plant growth field due to its broad bluish violet emission.