Facile combustion fabrication and optical investigation of novel Er3+-activated BaSrY4O8 green emitter for solid state lighting applications

Abstract A simple, non-hazardous and cost effective, solution combustion fabrication route was adopted to prepare novel BaSrY4(1-x)Er4xO8 (x = 0.5 -5 mol %) nanocrystals. Investigations related to crystal structure and phase purity of the prepared nanophosphors were made by using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) based Rietveld refinement analysis technique. Crystallite size of the prepared nanocrystals was analysed from Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) technique and the morphological examinations were done with the help of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) measurements. Optical properties of the fabricated nanophosphors were analysed from photoluminescence (PL) excitation-emission spectra. By fixing excitation at 379 nm, the emission spectra depicted peak at 549 nm (most intense) corresponding to 4S3/2 → 4I15/2 transition. The optimum content of Er3+ in BaSrY4O8 matrix was determined as x = 0.02. Further, the DR (diffuse reflectance) analysis revealed the band gap (Egap) values for host BaSrY4O8 (5.79 eV) and doped BaSrY3.92Er0.08O8 (5.38 eV) powder samples. CIE (Commission International de I’Eclairage) color coordinates were found to be in green region which proclaims the potential use of combustion fabricated nanophosphors in optical display devices, mainly white LEDs, lasers and optical sensors.