Eu3+-doped ZnLaB5O10: A suitable candidate for near ultraviolet LED pumped red phosphor

Abstract It is important to develop red phosphors which can be efficiently excited by near ultraviolet (NUV) irradiation, matching the wavelength of commercial LED chips. ZnLaB 5 O 10 possesses a significantly distorted coordination of La 3+ and suitable for the Eu 3+ incorporation, whose parity-forbidden law could be suppressed in such a coordination and be efficiently excited by f - f transitions in the NUV range. ZnLa 1- x Eu x B 5 O 10 (0 ≤  x  ≤ 1.0) were prepared by high temperature solid state reactions. Excitation and emission spectra prove that the concentration saturation occurs at a high Eu 3+ concentration (∼60 atm%). All the phosphors emit the bright red light with a high red-to-orange ratio (2.7–3.1) and CIE coordinate (0.64, 0.36). In-situ high temperature photoluminescence spectra of ZnLa 0.4 Eu 0.6 B 5 O 10 prove its high thermal stability, i.e. the emission intensity at 150 °C remains 90% of the value at room temperature, thus being a suitable candidate for NUV-LED pumped red phosphor.