Ba₃Lu(BO₃)₃:Ce³⁺,Tb^{3+/Mn2+: Dual-Functional Material for WLEDs and Optical Pressure Sensing}

Ba3Lu(BO3)(3)(BLB):Ce3+,Tb3+/Mn-2+ phosphors were designed to explore effective and multifunctional applications. Under the excitation of near-ultraviolet (n-UV) light, the BLB:Ce3+ phosphor showed broad-band blue emission. After codoping with Mn2+ ions, the single-phase white light phosphor is achieved through the energy transfer (ET) between Ce3+ and Mn2+. In addition, thermal stability is significantly enhanced by the addition of Tb3+ (BLB:0.02Ce(3+),0.20Tb(3+)) compared to that codoped with Mn2+ (BLB:0.02Ce(3+),0.10Mn(2+)). The light-emitting diode (LED) device with warm white light emission is fabricated with UV-chip-coated BLB:0.02Ce(3+),0.05Tb(3+) and Sr(2)Si(5)N8:Eu2+ phosphors, showing a good potential application value for LEDs. Additionally, the spectral properties of borate-based phosphors (BLB:0.02Ce(3+)) under high pressure were studied for the first time. Surprisingly, the change of pressure enabled the emission peak of BLB:0.02Ce(3+) to be tuned from 485 to 552 nm, and d lambda/dP is 3.51 nm GPa(-1). The color changes from blue to yellow with an increase of pressure. Compared with the reported data, the pressure-sensing sensitivity based on the central peak shift in this work is the highest in all Ce3+ single-doped samples. In addition, the emitting color and intensity were gradually regained after decompression. The intensity can reach 80% of the initial intensity. All data demonstrate that the BLB:0.02Ce(3+) phosphor has the potential to be utilized as an optical pressure sensor due to the high-pressure sensitivity and visible color tuning.