Garnet phosphors for white-light-emitting diodes: modification and calculation

Phosphor-converted white-light-emitting diodes (pc-wLEDs) have attracted considerable attention in general lighting and backlight display applications due to their high efficiency and long lifetime. The combination of Ce3+-doped yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG:Ce3+) with a blue LED chip is the most mature technology to obtain white light emission. Because of the excellent structural flexibility of garnet, many novel garnet phosphors have been designed and developed in the past few years. In this Frontier article, we describe our results related to the modification and calculation of garnet phosphors. The modification of YAG:Ce3+ phosphors is divided into five types depending on the crystallographic sites of substitution, and the effects of each on the structure and luminescence properties are illustrated in detail. Additionally, we outline our recent research progress in first-principles calculations of garnet phosphors with an emphasis on the analysis and prediction of their structure and luminescence performance. Finally, the status quo of pc-wLEDs using garnet phosphors, as well as the potential problems and future developments of garnet phosphors, are also discussed.