Luminescent properties of SrAl2B2O7: Ce3+, Tb3+ Original Research Article

By using metal nitrates as starting materials, SrAl2B2O7: Tb3+ and SrAl2B2O7: Ce3+, Tb3+ powder phosphors were prepared by sol–gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence excitation and emission, as well as kinetic decays were employed to characterize the resulting samples. The results show that energy transfers from Ce3+ to Tb3+ ions. The emission intensity of Tb3+ ions in SrAl2B2O7 could be greatly intensified when Ce3+ ions are doped into SrAl2B2O7: Tb3+. The decay times of SrAl2B2O7: Tb3+ were prolonged when Ce3+ ions were doped. The doping of Ce3+ ions not only improved the luminescent intensity, but also made the materials gets stable luminescent properties.