Structural and photoluminescence properties of orange emitting perovskites SrZrO3:Sm3+ phosphors for solid-state lighting

Abstract In this study, a series of Sr 1-x ZrO 3 :xSm ( x  = 0.01 ≤  x  ≤ 0.11) samples were synthesized using the sol-gel process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV–visible and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy were employed to analyze these phosphors. The reporting of the bandgap energies (E g ), for which the diffuse-reflectance spectra of the Sr 0.97 ZrO 3 :Sm 0.03 phosphor was used, is based on the Kubelka–Munk (K–M) function. Under the 406 nm excitation, the three Sm 3+ -emission transitions 4 G 5/2  →  6 H 5/2 (562 nm), 4 G 5/2  →  6 H 7/2 (599 nm), and 4 G 5/2  →  6 H 9/2 (644 nm) were observed for all the samples. The diminishing Sm 3+ -emission intensity that was observed was analyzed in the evaluation of the critical transfer rate (R c ) and the energy-transfer interaction parameter (Q). The CIE-chromaticity color coordinates of the Sm 3+ -doped SrZrO 3 indicate that the prepared phosphors may act as an orange-emitting-light converter for the white LED.