Towards deliberate design of persistent phosphors: a study of La–Ga admixing in LuAG:Ce crystals to engineer elemental homogeneity and carrier trap depths

Karol Bartosiewicz; Verena Fritz; David Van der Heggen; Damian Szymanski; Justyna Zeler; Jan Pejchal; Akihiro Yamaji; Romana Kucerkova; Alena Beitlerova; Shunsuke Kurosawa; Akira Yoshikawa; Philippe F. Smet; Eugeniusz Zych; Martin Nikl

doi:10.1039/D3TC01304A

Towards deliberate design of persistent phosphors: a study of La–Ga admixing in LuAG:Ce crystals to engineer elemental homogeneity and carrier trap depths†

Karol Bartosiewicz,

*^a Verena Fritz,

^b David Van der Heggen,

^b Damian Szymanski,

^c Justyna Zeler,

^d Jan Pejchal,

^e Akihiro Yamaji,^f Romana Kucerkova,^e Alena Beitlerova,^e Shunsuke Kurosawa,^fghi Akira Yoshikawa,^fg Philippe F. Smet,

^b Eugeniusz Zych

^d and Martin Nikl

^e

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Faculty of Physics, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Powstancow Wielkopolskich 2, 85-090, Bydgoszcz, Poland
E-mail: karol@ukw.edu.pl

^b LumiLab, Department of Solid State Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S1, Ghent, Belgium

^c Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Okolna 2, Wrocław, Poland

^d University of Wrocław, Faculty of Chemistry, 14 F. Joliot-Curie Street, Wrocław 50-383, Poland

^e Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 1999/2, 182 00 Praha, Czech Republic

^f Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan

^g New Industry Creation Hatchery Center, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan

^h Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, 2-6 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan

ⁱ Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, 1-4-12, Kojirakawa-machi, Yamagata 990-8560, Japan

Abstract

This research investigated the crystal chemical principles related to the incorporation of incompatible atoms into a garnet host lattice. These considerations might be used to guide and drive the design of new garnet compounds with novel properties. The strongly incompatible La atoms at the Lu sites of the Lu₃Al₂Ga₃O₁₂:Ce host lattice served as a research model. This study showed the possibility of designing material properties by exploiting atom mismatches in a crystal lattice. Lu₃Al₂Ga₃O₁₂:Ce0.075% crystals with increasing concentrations of La³⁺ ions were grown from the melt using the micro-pulling down method. The concentration of La³⁺ ions above 0.300 at% imposed physical and chemical boundary conditions on the crystallization process. The radial distributions of the chemical elements were studied as a function of the concentration of La³⁺ ions. It was revealed that La³⁺ codoping significantly reduced the cross-sectional fluctuation of the Ga and Al atoms. Persistent green-yellow luminescence due to the inter-configurational 5d → 4f transition of Ce³⁺ was observed after the blue-light excitation. The LuAGG:Ce0.075%,La0.015% phosphor showed long persistent luminescence for more than 14 h above 0.32 mcd m⁻², the detection limit of a human eye. The thermoluminescence glow curves revealed that the addition of La³⁺ ions increased the concentration of traps.

Journal of Materials Chemistry C

Towards deliberate design of persistent phosphors: a study of La–Ga admixing in LuAG:Ce crystals to engineer elemental homogeneity and carrier trap depths†

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Towards deliberate design of persistent phosphors: a study of La–Ga admixing in LuAG:Ce crystals to engineer elemental homogeneity and carrier trap depths

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