Mechanoluminescence and photoluminescence properties of Eu³⁺‐activated SrGa₂O₄ phosphors

Abstract

Red emitting Eu3+ activated SrGa2O4 phosphors have been synthesized using conventional solid‐state reaction method. The structural, optical and luminescence properties have been systematically investigated. The synthesized phosphors are single‐phase with monoclinic structure. There are no significant changes in the phase and the crystal structure of the host matrix after incorporating Eu3+ ions. The undoped and Eu3+ doped SrGa2O4 phosphors exhibit good mechanoluminescence (ML) emission without any irradiation of UV or gamma rays. Eu3+ activated SrGa2O4 phosphors have prominent red emission attributed to 5D0 →7F2 forced electric dipole transition excited at 395 nm. The color coordinates and purity of the SrGa2O4:0.08Eu3+ phosphor is calculated to be (0.6102, 0.3810) and 97.6 % respectively. The quantum efficiency is 12.68 % and it is better than that of commercially available red phosphors. The mechanoluminescence and photoluminescence studies reveal that the synthesized phosphors can act as potential candidates for stress sensors, ultra violet (UV) or near ultra violet light emitting diodes (NUV‐LEDs) and components of phosphor‐converted white light emitting diodes (pc‐WLEDs) applications.