Realization of warm reddish-orange light emitter single phase Y4Al2O9: Sm3+nanophosphors for indoor lighting applications

Sm3+ activated Y4Al2O9 nanophosphors have been prepared using urea aided gel-combustion route. Through various structural and photophysical examinations, the prescribed powdered samples are thoroughly charac-terized. By using the Rietveld refinement technique, crystallographic characteristics of the doped samples are determined and a comparison is made with the host lattice. All the nanosamples have monoclinic crystal structure with P21/c space group. TEM image manifests occurrence of uneven agglomeration of particles in domain of nano-range. At an excitation of 406 nm wavelength, Y4Al2O9:Sm3+ nanophosphor generates reddish-orange light, and its emission spectra in the 500-700 nm range has three emission bands at 566 nm, 602 nm and 651 nm with transitions 4G5/2 -> 6H 5/2, 6H 7/2 and 6H 9/2, separately. The optimal concentration of dopant ion is observed to be 3 mol% and dipole-quadruple interactions among the dopant ions are answerable for concen-tration quenching. By analyzing the chromaticity parameters, color temperature and color purity, the warm reddish-orange light of the considered nanophosphors confirm their potential applicability for indoor lighting applications.