Synthesis of Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ phosphors by a modified impinging stream method: a crystal growth and luminescent properties study

A Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ (YAG:Ce3+) phosphor was successfully prepared by a modified impinging stream (IS) method at a temperature of 1200 °C. The as-obtained sample has perfect crystallinity, uniform morphology and good dispersion due to the added size classification (SC) process and low-temperature calcination. The mechanism of YAG:Ce3+ crystal growth was proposed based on the results of scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffractometry, which agreed with the Ostwald ripening process. The excitation and emission spectra revealed that the excitation band distributes between 310 nm and 520 nm and peaks at 342 nm and 460 nm, and the emission band covers from 470 nm to 650 nm and centres at 532.5 nm, respectively. White light can be obtained from the fabricated light-emitting diodes using the prepared phosphor, and the CIE coordinate, correlated colour temperature and luminescence efficiency are (0.312, 0.321), 7560 K and 80.7 lm W-1, respectively. All the results indicated that the modified IS method is a promising way to prepare the YAG:Ce3+ phosphor, and SC process is effective in producing the phosphor with uniform morphology, ideal size and size distribution. This method has a broad industrial prospect in phosphor manufacture. (paper)