Tunable emission of Sr3Sc(PO4)3: Tb3+, Eu3+ phosphors with efficient energy transfer and high thermal stability

The color-tunable Sr3Sc(PO4)(3):Tb3+, Eu3+ phosphors were synthesized by high-temperature solid-phase method. XRD results indicate that all phosphors doped with and without rare ions are pure orthophosphate in structure. Under 376 nm excitation, the photoluminescence emission spectra show the increase in Eu3+ concentration caused the intensity of Tb3+ emission peak to decrease, and the intensity of Eu3+ emission peak to increase, indicating that the energy transfer occurs from Tb3+ to Eu3+. Based on theoretical calculation, the energy transfer efficiency was found to be about 97.7% and the dipole-quadrupole interaction is assigned to the energy transfer mechanism. By adjusting the Tb3+/Eu3+ ratio, yellow-green, yellow and yellow-orange color shift can be achieved. Furthermore, the phosphor has a quenching temperature of about 553 K and an activation energy of 0.1708 eV.