A novel aluminum-oxynitride phosphor Mg0·695Si0·695Al1·39O3·65N0.35: Ce3+, Tb3+, Mn2+ based on cation substitution with double sites related multicolor-tunable luminescence

A new aluminum-oxynitride Ce 3+ -Tb 3+ and Ce 3+ -Mn 2+ co-doped Mg 0·695 Si 0·695 Al 1·39 O 3·65 N 0.35 (MSAON) have been prepared by the high-temperature solid-state method at 1500 °C. The structure, photoluminescence properties, energy transfer (ET) mechanism, thermal quenching behaviors have been investigated. The MSAON host has been formed based on the co-substitution method of cation pair. Under UV excitation, the tunable-color emissions from violet to green and red can be realized by properly doping Ce 3+ /Tb 3+ /Mn 2+ ions. In addition, the type of ET mechanism from Ce 3+ to Tb 3+ and Mn 2+ both are confirmed to be electric dipole-quadrupole interaction. However, as temperature increases, the emission intensity of Tb 3+ in MSAON: Ce 3+ , Tb 3+ phosphor occurs a significantly rising trend until 493 K, which is caused by increasing energy transfer from Ce 3+ to Tb 3+ due to the effect of enhanced electron–phonon coupling with rising temperature. This property may be helpful for the investigation of ratiometric optical thermometry. Meanwhile, the MSAON: Ce 3+ , Mn 2+ phosphor shows an excellent thermal stability, maintaining 84.25% of initial intensity at 423 K. The results suggest that they could be feasible multicolor-tunable emission phosphors for potential applications for near -UV WLEDs.