The self-reduction synthesis and luminescent properties of Eu /Eu activated BaZr Si O phosphors with white light emission for white light-emitting diodes.

The BaZr Si O :Eu /Eu (2%, molar ratio) phosphors were prepared with adding different amounts of zirconium dioxide (ZrO ) (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1) by a self-reduction method under air conditions. X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence properties, thermal quenching properties and luminescent lifetimes of the prepared samples were systematically analyzed. In BaZr Si O :Eu /Eu , both the 4f → 5d transitions of Eu and sharp emissions assigned to D → F (J = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) transitions of Eu were observed. In addition, the results also reveal that the amount of ZrO affects the crystal structure, the self-reduction process and further influences the relative intensity of Eu /Eu in all samples. Therefore, the diverse emission colors can be obtained and modulated by controlling the content of ZrO . The highlight of this work is that the white light emission is observed, when x is 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1, respectively.