CaY2Al4SiO12:Ce3+,Mn2+: a single component phosphor to produce high color rendering index WLEDs with a blue chip

A high color rendering index white light emitting diode (WLED) is generally produced by combining yellow and red mixed phosphors on a blue chip. Herein we report a single component phosphor based on CaY2Al4SiO12 (CYAS) to achieve warm white light emission with a high color rendering index (Ra), which can be up to 90.5. Ce3+, Mn2+ singly doped and co-doped CYAS phosphors have been synthesized by solid state reactions, respectively, for comparative investigations. The Rietveld X-ray diffraction (XRD) refinements show that the CYAS host crystallizes in a cubic structure with the Iad space group. The valence states of Ce and Mn inside the CYAS host have been confirmed by XPS and EPR. Ce3+ occupies the Ca2+/Y3+ site and generates a yellow emission band around 543 nm from its characteristic 5d–4f transition. Mn2+ occupies both the dodecahedron Ca2+/Y3+ and octahedral Al3+ sites, emitting red and deep red lights at 616 nm and 750 nm, respectively. These two emission bands are attributed to the 4T1(4G)–6A1(6S) transitions of Mn2+. Upon 460 nm light excitation, both the Ce3+ and Mn2+ characteristic emissions can be obtained, in which the emissions of Mn2+ result from the occurrence of energy transfer from Ce3+ in CYAS. All the results indicate that the prepared CYAS:Ce3+,Mn2+ could be a promising single component phosphor for blue chip WLEDs.