Novel ZnO‒YAG:Ce composite ceramic phosphors with excellent thermal performance and color quality for laser-driven lighting

The application of laser-driven lighting is constrained by the thermal quenching and poor color quality of phosphor converters. In this study, novel ZnO–YAG:Ce composite ceramics were successfully fabricated by vacuum hot-pressing. The addition of ZnO effectively enhanced the thermal conductivities of the composite ceramics. Moreover, ZnO exhibited good chemical compatibility with YAG and low densification temperatures, which led to excellent thermal and optical properties of the composite ceramics. The maximal luminescence saturation threshold of 10 W/mm 2 with a luminous flux of 1243 lm was achieved for ZnO–20 %YAG:Ce. Furthermore, ZnO–YAG:Ce composite ceramic phosphors showed higher color rendering index (CRI) than that of the YAG–YAG:Ce due to their additional green emission and broadened spectra under excitation of blue LDs, indicating excellent color quality of the ZnO–YAG:Ce composite ceramic phosphor for laser-driven lighting.