Functional Inorganic Materials and Devices White Light-Emitting and Enhanced Color Stability in a Single Component Host

Eu3+ ion can be effectively sensitized by Ce3+ ion through an energy transfer chain of Ce-(Tb)n-Eu, which has contributed to the development of white-light emitting diodes (WLEDs) as it can favour more efficient red phosphors. However, simply serving for WLEDs as one of the multi-components, the design of the Ce-(Tb)n-Eu energy transfer is undoubtedly underused. Theoritically, white light can be achieved with extra blue and green emissions released from Ce3+ and Tb3+. Herein, the design of the white light based on these three multi-color luminescence centers has been realized in GdBO3. It is the first time that white light is generated via accurate controls on the Ce-(Tb)n-Eu energy transfer in such a widely studied host material. Since the thermal quenching rates of blue, green and red (BGR) emissions from Ce3+, Tb3+ and Eu3+, respectively, are well-matched in the host, this novel white light exhibits superior color stability and potential application prospect.