Photoluminescence investigation of novel KCaPO4:Sm3+ phosphors for n-UV based solid state lighting Prepared by wet chemical synthesis

The wet chemical method was used for the first time to synthesize novel KCaPO4:Sm3+ phosphor. The characteristics of XRD, morphology and photoluminescence were thoroughly investigated. The hexagonal structure of KCaPO4 is confirmed by the XRD analysis. The KCaPO4:Sm3+ phosphor emission are peaks located at 565 nm, 599 nm and 646 nm under excited at 403 nm. Concentration quenching was shown to occur at 1 mol% of Sm3+ ions. It was found that concentration quenching occurred as a result of quadrupole–quadrupole interaction according to Dexter’s theory. The CIE Chromaticity coordinate of the prepared phosphor was located in the orange region around (0.602, 0.395) with high color purity. The current study suggests that KCaPO4:Sm3+ phosphors could potentially represent a promising n-UV converter material for solid-state lighting applications.