Tuning of phosphor luminescence properties, including the emission energy/intensity and thermal stability, is an important way to develop superior luminescent materials for diverse applications. In this work, we discuss the effect of band gap engineering and energy transfer on the luminescence properties of Ce³⁺ or Pr³⁺ doped (Y,Gd)AGG systems, and analyze the underlying reasons for their different phenomena. By using VUV-UV excitation spectra and constructing VRBE schemes, the changes of host band structure, 5d excited level energies and emission thermal stability of Ce³⁺ and Pr³⁺ with the incorporation of Gd³⁺ ions were studied. In addition, the energy transfer dynamics was also investigated in terms of the luminescence decay curves. This work demonstrates a way to tune phosphor luminescence properties by combining band gap engineering and energy transfer tailoring and provides an inspiring discussion on the different results of Gd³⁺ doping on the Ce³⁺ and Pr³⁺ emissions.

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A series of Ln-doped KSrPO₄ (Ln = Ce³⁺, Eu³⁺, Eu²⁺, Pr³⁺) phosphors are prepared through a high-temperature solid-state method. The KSrPO₄ compound is confirmed to possess a β-K₂SO₄ structure with the Pnma group by Rietveld refinement, and the temperature-dependent lattice parameters are investigated with the powder X-ray diffraction results at different temperatures. Ce³⁺ and Eu³⁺ ions are introduced to probe the crystal field strength (CFS) and the lanthanide site symmetry by using VUV-UV-vis spectroscopy. The temperature-dependent luminescence properties of KSrPO₄: Ce³⁺/Eu²⁺ exhibit an excellent thermal stability of Ce³⁺/Eu²⁺ luminescence. Based on the VUV-UV-vis spectra of Ce³⁺ and Eu³⁺ doped KSrPO₄, the vacuum referred binding energy (VRBE) scheme is constructed to understand the redox properties of Eu, the 5d energy levels of Pr³⁺ and the thermal quenching characteristics of Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ luminescence.

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The host structure and the synchrotron radiation VUV-UV luminescence properties of samples BaMg₂Si₂O₇ (BMSO):Ln (Ce³⁺, Eu²⁺) at different doping levels and different temperatures were investigated in detail. Three important aspects are studied to elucidate the luminescence properties of samples: (1) the vacuum referred binding energy (VRBE) scheme is constructed with the electron binding in the BMSO host bands and in the Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ impurity levels with the aim to explain the different thermal stabilities of Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ emissions; (2) the electron-vibrational interaction analysis on the narrow Eu²⁺ emission indicates a weak electron-phonon interaction in the current case; (3) by using three models (Inokuti-Hirayama, Yokota-Tanimoto, and Burshteǐn models) at different conditions, the energy transfer dynamics between Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ was analyzed. It reveals that the energy transfer from Ce³⁺ to Eu²⁺ via electric dipole-dipole (EDD) interaction is dominant while energy migration between Ce³⁺ is negligible. Finally, the X-ray excited luminescence spectra of samples BMSO:Ce³⁺/Eu²⁺ are collected to evaluate their possible scintillator applications.

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A series of Ce3+-doped (Ca,Sr)2Al2SiO7 phosphors with different Ce3+ and Ca2+/Sr2+ concentrations were prepared by a high temperature solid-state reaction technique. To get insight into the structure-luminescence relationship, the impact of incorporation of Sr2+ on structure of (Ca,Sr)2Al2SiO7 was first investigated via Rietveld refinement of high quality X-ray diffraction (XRD) data, and then the VUV-UV excitation and UV-vis emission spectra of (Ca,Sr)2Al2SiO7:Ce3+ were collected at low temperature. The results reveal that the crystal structure evolution of (Ca,Sr)2Al2SiO7:Ce3+ has influences on band gaps and Ce3+ luminescence properties including 4f-5di (i = 1-5) transition energies, radiative lifetime, emission intensity, quantum efficiency, and thermal stability. Moreover, the influence of Sr2+ content on the energy of Eu3+-O2- charge-transfer states (CTS) in (Ca,Sr)2Al2SiO7:Eu3+ was studied in order to construct vacuum referred binding energy (VRBE) schemes with the aim to further understand the luminescence properties of (Ca,Sr)2Al2SiO7:Ce3+. Finally, X-ray excited luminescence (XEL) spectra were measured to evaluate the possibility of (Ca,Sr)2Al2SiO7:Ce3+ as a scintillation material.@en

A series of Ba2-xEuxMgSi2O7 phosphors was prepared by a solid-state reaction method at high temperature. The theoretical density of the optimal Ba1.93Eu0.07MgSi2O7 material was calculated from the Rietveld refinement result. Eu L3-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectrum was measured to confirm the valence of Eu ions in Ba2MgSi2O7. The X-ray excited radioluminescence and the thermoluminescence after β-ray irradiation were investigated based on the VUV-vis photoluminescence. The light yield of the optimal Ba1.93Eu0.07MgSi2O7 sample under X-ray excitation was estimated to be ~29,000±6000 photons/M eV. So the temperature-dependent luminescence properties of this sample under X-ray and 344 nm excitation were further studied, and the charge traps in the scintillation process were discussed through thermoluminescence spectra. The high scintillation intensity together with an appropriate intrinsic decay time and its non-hygroscopicity endow the further optimized phosphor Ba1.93Eu0.07MgSi2O7 a promising scintillation material for X-ray detection.@en