HF-free molten salt route for synthesis of highly efficient and water-resistant K2SiF6:Mn4+ for warm white LED

It has been one of the hot issues to prepare the red-emitting Mn 4+ -doped fluoride phosphors with highly efficient and waterproofness for warm white-light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) by the green and environmentally friendly method. Herein, we design a novel green molten salt route to synthesize K 2 SiF 6 :Mn 4+ red powder using molten NH 4 HF 2 salt instead of HF liquor as the reaction medium. The results show that KMnO 4 and MnF 2 could produce Mn 4+ in NH 4 HF 2 molten salt through a reduction reaction, and the resulting Mn 4+ -doped K 2 SiF 6 exhibited a bright red emission peaked at 632 nm under blue light excitation. The luminescence intensity of the as-obtained product after immersing into water for 24 hours maintain nearly 100% of that before soaking and emission peak shape remains unchanged. The thermal stability of the sample was evaluated by temperature-dependent luminescence spectral intensity during heating and cooling. Furthermore, a warm white-light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) with an excellent color rendering index (Ra = 87.1), lower correlated color temperature (CCT = 3536K), and high luminous efficacy (116.99 lm·W −1 ) was fabricated based on blue chip and K 2 SiF 6 :Mn 4+ and commercial yellow phosphor (Y 3 Al 5 O 12 :Ce 3+ ).