Ce3+/Tb3+‐coactived NaMgBO3 phosphors toward versatile applications in white LED, FED, and optical anti‐counterfeiting

Ce3+/Tb3+ co-doped NaMgBO3 phosphors were successfully synthesized by solid-state method. Under 381 nm excitation, the cyan emission owing to the 5d -> 4f of Ce3+ ions and green emissions arising from the D-5(4) -> F-7(J) (J = 6, 5, 4, and 3) transitions of Tb3+ ions were seen in all the phosphors. Through theoretical analysis, one knows that the energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ ions with high efficiency of 83.74% was contributed by dipole-dipole transition. Furthermore, the internal quantum efficiency of NaMgBO3:0.01Ce(3+),0.03Tb(3+) phosphor was 54.28%. Compared with that of at 303 K, the emission intensity of the developed products at 423 K still kept 73%, revealing the splendid thermal stability of the studied phosphors. Through utilizing the resultant phosphors as cyan-green components, the fabricated white-LED device exhibited an excellent correlated color temperature of 2785 K, high color-rendering index of 85.73, suitable luminance efficiency of 25.00 lm/W, and appropriate color coordinate of (0.4279, 0.3617). Aside from the superior photoluminescence, the synthesized phosphors also exhibited excellent cathode-luminescence properties which were sensitive to the current and accelerating voltage. Furthermore, the NaMgBO3:0.01Ce(3+),0.03Tb(3+) phosphors with multi-mode emissions were promising candidates for optical anti-counterfeiting. All the results indicated that the Ce3+/Tb3+ co-doped NaMgBO3 phosphors were potential multi-platforms toward white-LED, field emission displays, and optical anti-counterfeiting applications.