Citrate-based sol-gel synthesis of blue- and green-emitting BaLa{sub 2}WO{sub 7}:Tm{sup 3+} or Er{sup 3+} phosphors and their luminescence properties
Highlights: • The BLWO:Tm{sup 3+} or Er{sup 3+} phosphors were prepared by a citrate-based sol-gel method. • The BLWO:Tm{sup 3+} or Er{sup 3+} phosphors exhibited blue and green emissions under UV or NUV excitations. • The blue- and green-emitting BLWO:Tm{sup 3+} or Er{sup 3+} phosphors exhibited good thermal properties. - Abstract: BaLa{sub 2}WO{sub 7}:Tm{sup 3+} or Er{sup 3+} (BLWO:Tm{sup 3+} or Er{sup 3+}) single doped phosphors were prepared by a citrate-based sol-gel method. The crystalline properties of the prepared blue- and green-emitting phosphor materials were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) after annealing at 1350 °C. The XRD patterns of the both phosphors revealed monoclinic structure with a space group of P21/b. The morphological properties and elemental mappings of the BLWO:0.02Tm{sup 3+} and BLWO:0.01Er{sup 3+} phosphors were measured by field-emission scanning electron microscope images and energy dispersive X-ray spectrum, respectively. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of BLWO:Tm{sup 3+} phosphors showed characteristic emission peaks of Tm{sup 3+} ions from the visible blue to near-infrared regions with the dominant emission at 799 nm ({sup 3}H{sub 4} → {sup 3}H{sub 6}) under ultraviolet (UV) and near-UV excitation wavelengths. Similarly, Er{sup 3+} ions activated BLWO phosphors exhibited intense green emissions at 548 nm ({sup 4}S{sub 3/2} → {sup 4}I{sub 15/2}) under the characteristic excitation wavelength of 381 nm. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent PL emission spectra and the luminescence decay curves were measured for the optimized BLWO:0.02Tm{sup 3+} and BLWO:0.01Er{sup 3+} phosphors. The chromaticity coordinates for the optimized blue- and green-emitting phosphors were calculated.