Preparation and luminescent properties of Y2Zr2O7:Eu3+ phosphor for W-LED application

Tricolor phosphors play a pivotal role in the application of white-light-emitting diode (W-LED). Herein, we successfully prepared a series of Y2Zr2O7:Eu3+ phosphors via sol–gel method. Structural analysis showed that the phosphor was fluorite structure (space group Fm–3 m), and the elements of Y, Zr, O, and Eu were uniformly distributed within each particle. From the emission spectra, five distinctive peaks can be found in the wavelength of 500–700 nm excited by 393 nm UV light, and in the case of increase of Eu3+ contents, the luminescence intensities of phosphors increased first and then decreased. And the chromaticity coordinates fell into the reddish orange zone. For different calcination temperatures, they did not seriously affect the crystal structure, chromaticity coordinates, and CCTs except for crystallinity. Meanwhile, the phosphor has excellent thermal stability at working temperature of 150 °C. The above-mentioned excellent properties indicate that this phosphor has potential applications in W-LED devices.