Luminescence properties and energy transfer investigations of BaAl2B2O7:Ce3+,Tb3+ phosphors

Ce³⁺ and Tb³⁺ co-doped BaAl₂B₂O₇ phosphors were synthesized by the solid-state method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize the phase structure. The photoluminescent properties of Ce³⁺ and Tb³⁺ co-doped BaAl₂B₂O₇ phosphors were investigated by using the photoluminescence emission and excitation spectra. Under the excitation of near ultraviolet (n-UV) light, BaAl₂B₂O₇:Ce³⁺,Tb³⁺ phosphors exhibited blue emission corresponding to the f–d transition of Ce³⁺ ions and green emission bands corresponding to the f–f transition of Tb³⁺ ions, respectively. Effective energy transfer occurred from Ce³⁺ to Tb³⁺ in BaAl₂B₂O₇ host due to the observed spectra overlap between the emission spectrum of Ce³⁺ ion and the excitation spectrum of Tb³⁺ ion. The energy transfer efficiency from Ce³⁺ ion to Tb³⁺ ion was also calculated to be 71%. Furthermore, the concentration quenching and critical distance of BaAl₂B₂O₇:Ce³⁺,Tb³⁺ phosphors were also discussed. The energy transfer from Ce³⁺ to Tb³⁺ in BaAl₂B₂O₇ host was demonstrated to be resonant type via a dipole–dipole interaction mechanism with the energy transfer critical distance of 16.13 Å.