Wide-Band Excited YTiTaO6: Eu3+/Er3+ Phosphors: Structure Refinement, Luminescence Properties, and Energy Transfer Mechanisms

Eu3+/Er3+-activated YTiTaO6 phosphors have been prepared via conventional solid state reaction process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and structure refinement, Raman spectra, X-ray photoelectron Spectrum (XPS), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, cathodoluminescence (CL) spectra, and lifetimes were utilized to characterize the synthesized samples. Under UV light excitation, the YTiTaO6 sample shows broad band emission centered near 505 nm due to the Ta(Ti)O-6 polyhedron. Eu3+ and Er3+ ions doped YTiTaO6 samples show strong line emissions coming from the characteristic f-f transitions. The energy transfer from the Ta(Ti)O-6 group of the host to Eu3+ and Er3+ in YTiTaO6 phosphors has been demonstrated to be a resonant type via a dipole-dipole mechanism, and the critical distance (R-C) for host emission to Eu3+ and Er3+ calculated by concentration quenching method are 10.02 and 18.86 angstrom, respectively. Under the low voltage electron beam excitation, the CL spectra of YTiTaO6, YTiTaO6: Eu3+, and YTiTaO6: Er3+ samples are similar to their PL spectra, exhibiting bluish-green, red, and green luminescence, respectively, which indicates that these materials might be promising for application in solid-state lighting and field-emission displays.