Structural, electronic and optical characterization of Eu3+/Dy3+ single and co-doped Mg2P2O7 phosphors

Eu3+/ Dy3+ single and co-doped magnesium pyrophosphate phosphors were synthesized via solution combustion route. The resulted phosphor has a monoclinic crystal structure with space group B2(1)/c. The lattice parameter of the sample is refined using 'Full Prof software'. x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) result reveals that dysprosium and europium present in a trivalent valence state. Valence band spectra (VBS) result indicates that 6 features present in a single doped sample and 8 features present in a co-doped sample. The photoluminescence studies reveal that the combination of Eu3+ and Dy3+ emissions give tuneable emission from red to pink to yellowish-white under UV excitation. The energy transfer mechanism from Dy3+ to Eu3+ is confirmed from photoluminescence spectra and life time curves. The optical band gap of the prepared samples is obtained to be in the range of 5.02-5.40 eV. The synthesized material has conventional application in solid-state lighting under UV-excitation.