High efficiency and high color purity blue-emitting NaSrBO3:Ce3+ phosphor for near-UV light-emitting diodes

A highly intense blue-emitting phosphor NaSrBO3:Ce3+, peaking at 400 nm was synthesized by a solid state reaction. The crystal structure, luminescence properties and quantum efficiency of NaSrBO3:Ce3+ phosphors, as well as their thermal quenching capabilities and the fabrication of a 370 nm UV-chip and R/G/B phosphors were investigated for the first time. The composition-optimized NaSrBO3:1% Ce3+ exhibited high external quantum efficiency of 89% of the blue-emitting, commercial compound, BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+ (BAM:Eu2+). The color purity of as-synthesized NaSrBO3:1% Ce3+ phosphor is much better than that of BAM:Eu2+. By using a GaN-based UV-LED (370 nm) and a mixture of blue-emitting NaSrBO3:Ce3+, green-emitting (Ba,Sr)(2)SiO4:Eu2+ and red-emitting CaAlSiN3:Eu2+ phosphors as light converters, we constructed an intense white light emitting diode. The LED device exhibited an excellent color-rendering index R-a of 93.13 at a correlated color temperature of 5763 K with CIE coordinates of (0.324,0.337) and a maximum lumen efficacy of 26.2 lmW(-1). Based on the results, we are currently evaluating the potential application of NaSrBO3:Ce3+ as a blue-emitting UV convertible phosphor.