Luminescent Properties and Mechanism of Gd1-x-yAlO3:Tbx,REy Gradational Combinatorial Library

Abstract

The combinatorial material library approach is an excellent innovation for inorganic functional material research, and it can discover and screen new materials efficiently. In this paper, it is used to quickly find and improve Tb3+activated gadolinium aluminate perovskite phosphors (Gd1-x-yAlO3: Tbx, REy, RE ion vary among Ce3+,4+, Dy3+, abbreviate as GAP:Tb,RE). Under UV light excitation, Gd1-x-yAlO3: Tbx, REygradational combinatorial library indentifies the “lead” green luminescent compound as GAP:Tb0.1from all the GAP:Tbx(x=0.05~0.15) candidates in a quick way. Then the relationship between sensitizers and activators can be also mapped out quickly, that Dy3+, is a good sensitizer for Tb3+,activator while Ce3+,4+is not a suitable one. The photoluminescent excitation (PLE) and photoluminescent emission (PL) spectral indicate the resonance energy transfer between the activator and sensitizer must have happened, which leads to Ce3+,4+co-doping decrease Tb3+green luminescence（5D4→7F5，544nm） while Dy3+co-doping increase green luminescence. The candidates in the library are prepared in powder form by nitric-citric method for more detailed characterization. All the screening results, obtained from the combinational library, are coherent with the powder phosphor experiments.