Enhanced Photoluminescence Properties of Low-Dimensional Eu3+-Activated Y4Al2O9 Phosphor Compared to Bulk for Solid-State Lighting Applications and Latent Fingerprint Detection-Based Forensic Applications

摘要

In recent years, nanoscale phosphors have become vital in optoelectronic applications and to understand the improved performance of nanophosphors over bulk material, detailed investigation is essential. Herein, trivalent europium-activated Y4Al2O9 phosphors were developed by solid-state reaction and solvothermal reaction methods and their performance as a function of their dimension was studied for various applications. Under 394 nm optical excitation, the photoluminescence (PL) emission, excited state lifetime of the nanophosphor, exhibits greater performance than its bulk counterpart. The homogeneous spherical structure of the nanophosphors as compared with solid lumps of bulk phosphors is the basis for almost 40% of the enhancement in nanophosphors' intense red emission compared to the bulk. Moreover, the thermal stability of the nanophosphor is much better than the bulk phosphor, which clearly indicates a key advantage of nanophosphor. The superior performance of Eu3+-doped Y4Al2O9 nanophosphors over their bulk counterparts has been demonstrated for industrial phosphor-converted light-emitting diodes and visualization of latent fingerprint.