Luminescence and energy transfer mechanism of α-Ba3Y(BO3)3:Ce3+,Tb3+

A series of Ce3+/Tb3+ doped alpha-Ba3Y(BO3)(3) phosphor has been synthesized by a conventional solid state method. The crystal structure and luminescence properties, specifically the energy transfer behavior were investigated. Result shows that all phosphors have pure phase confirmed by XRD and morphology. Under ultraviolet (UV) or near-UV excitations, the alpha-Ba3Y(BO3)(3):Ce3+ phosphors showed a blue emission of Ce3+ (5d -> 4f) at 356 and 396 nm and the alpha-Ba3Y(BO3)(3):Tb3+ phosphors mainly exhibited a green emission of Tb3+ at 542 and 550 nm D-5(4) -> F-7(5)), respectively. The energy transfer process was investigated between Ce3+ and Tb3+ ions by the wide spectral overlap of Ce3+ emission spectrum and Tb3+ excitation spectrum. The efficient energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ ions was studied by different Tb3+ concentration in alpha-Ba3Y(BO3)(3):Ce3+,xTb(3+) phosphors. The critical distance was calculated and the ET mechanism was determined to vary from dipole-dipole interaction to dipole-quadrupole interaction while Tbs concentration exceeded 0.1. The CIE color coordinates were listed for all prepared samples. So, all these results indicate that the as-synthesized green phosphor alpha-Ba3Y (BO3)(3):Ce3+,Tb3+ has potential applications for ultraviolet LEDs and displays.