Energy transfer from Ce³⁺ to Eu³⁺ in the spinel structure of ZnAl₂O₄  phosphor for optoelectronic applications

Abstract

Zinc aluminate (ZnAl₂O₄), with a spinel structure is known for its versatile applications as catalyst, ceramic material, and optoelectronic device. ZnAl₂O₄ is an excellent host for trivalent rare-earth ions such as Dy³⁺_, Tb³⁺, Eu³⁺ and Sm³⁺ has been extensively investigated for application in display devices. The focus of this work is on Ce³⁺ and Eu³⁺ co-dopants aiming to address issues such as multistage combustion synthesis routes, the formation of secondary phases, that often impact luminescence intensity. Through a systematic approach, we synthesized the ZnAl₂O₄ host with consistent cerium concentration and varying europium ions using one-step combustion synthesis route. The findings reveal that the synthesized material exhibits efficient energy transfer, mitigates concentration quenching and demonstrates favorable color chromaticity. The crystal structure analysis confirms phase purity and addresses concerns related to secondary phase formation. The simplified and cost-effective approach of one-step combustion synthesis method for synthesizing Ce³⁺ and Eu³⁺ co-doped ZnAl₂O₄ suggests that this phosphor has potential applications in ultraviolet photo-electronic technology and other opto-electronic devices.

KEYWORDS:

• Zinc aluminates
• Energy transfer
• spinel structure Photoluminescence
• combustion synthesis

Acknowledgements

Color coordinates were calculated using the Go CIE program. We are grateful to the copyright owners for permitting free use. Assistance in obtaining the XRD pattern provided by The Institute of Science, Mumbai, India is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. Balakrishnan

S. Balakrishnan – Synthesis and graph plotting.

A. Tiwari

A. Tiwari – Graph plotting and Manuscript writing

S. Iyer

S. Iyer – Synthesis and graph plotting.

P. Kumbhar

Prashant Kumbhar – Synthesis and graph plotting.

A. Pusdekar

Ashvini Pusdekar – Graph Plotting, editing and discussion.

N. Ugemuge

Dr. Nilesh Ugemuge – Conceptualization, editing, analysis and discussion.

A. Muley

Dr. Aarti Muley – Writing-Original draft, Conceptualization, Supervision, analysis and discussion.

All authors have directly participated in the planning and execution of this work and agree to publish this manuscript.