Facile synthesis of Ca-α-SiAlON:Eu2+ phosphor by the microwave sintering method and its photoluminescence properties

Pure Ca-α-SiAlON:Eu 2+ was synthesized by microwave sintering method at a relatively low temperature of 1550°C. Photoluminescence intensity of the resultant phosphor was higher than those of the samples synthesized by conventional gas-pressure sintering technique at 1750°C. When it was excited at 450 nm, the as-prepared yellow Ca-α-SiAlON:Eu 2+ sample had an external quantum efficiency of 42%, comparable to the sample synthesized at 1750°C under 0.5 MPa N 2 gas pressure by the GPS method reported in reference. The experimental results demonstrated that the microwave sintering method was also an interesting approach for synthesizing nitride phosphors, which promises lower firing temperature than those by carbothermal reduction and nitridation (CRN) methods, higher heating rate and shorter duration time compared with those by gas-pressure sintering.