Rare earth ion activated orthophosphates have a great deal of interest due to their thermal stability for white light emitting diodes. In this regard, thermally stable Sm3+ doped NaCaPO4 (NCP) phosphor was synthesized by conventional solid state reaction technique. The phase and the structure of the as prepared powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), FT-IR, emission and excitation properties were extensively investigated for NCP phosphors. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of NaCaPO4 with orthorhombic structure. The excitation spectra indicate that this phosphor can be effectively excited by UV light from 350 to 500 nm. All the transitions in the excitation spectrum of Sm3+ start from the ground state 6H5/2 to various excited states. The emission spectra indicated that the emitted radiation was dominated by the emission peak wavelength at 599 nm originated from the transition of 4G5/2→6H7/2. The optimum concentration of Sm3+ is determined as 1.0 mol% based on the concentration dependent emission spectra. These results suggest that the NaCaPO4:Sm3+ phosphor is a promising orange emitting phosphor under 404 nm excitation with CIE coordinates of x=0.545, y=0.41, which might be used in the development of materials for LED's and other optical devices in the visible region.
Keywords: Orthophosphate phosphor; Photoluminescence; Solid state lighting.
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