All‐Inorganic Functional Phosphor–Glass Composites by Light Curing Induced 3D Printing for Next‐Generation Modular Lighting Devices

Digital light processing 3D printing and pressureless sintering are combined to construct color-tunable all-inorganic functional composites by a simple and general strategy. The insertion of Y3Al5O12:Ce (YAG:Ce) into silica glass (YAG:Ce-PiSG) is realized by pressureless sintering based on silica nanocomposites for 3D printing, which effectively controls the intense interface reaction between phosphor and substrate. The chromaticity of YAG:Ce-PiSG-based white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) shifts from blue-white to white and yellow, and the 3D-printed dome structure aids in the heat dissipation and pump blue light utilization. In addition, a series of red-emitting color converters (CASN:Eu-PiBSG) are synthesized by cofiring CaAlSiN3:Eu (CASN:Eu) with low softening-point borosilicate glass powders, overcoming the fatal drawback of inherently low thermal performance. The chromaticity of integrated YAG:Ce-PiSG/CASN:Eu-PiBSG-based WLEDs benefiting from 3D printing technology is adjusted in the color range from cold white to warm white. A warm WLED with high luminous efficiency (92.6 lm W-1) and excellent color rendering index (90.2) is successfully assembled. The 3D printed customizable phosphor-glass composites offer a great potential to develop high-power and color-tunable WLEDs, which are also of great significance for developing innovative glass composites with high-temperature stability.