Synthesis and photoluminescence of novel blue‐emitting phosphor of Eu²⁺‐activated fluoroborate BaGaBO₃F₂

Abstract

Pure and Eu2+‐activated fluoroborate BaGaBO3F2 was prepared using high‐temperature solid‐state reaction. BaGaBO3F2 is a wide band semiconductor with the indirect transition characteristic. The excitation and luminescence spectra of the phosphor were measured, and it was found that Eu2+‐activated BaGaBO3F2 exhibits a bright blue color under ultraviolet (UV) light. The narrow emission band peaked at 425 nm is attributed to the transitions of 4f65d→4f7(8S7/2), and the Stokes shift estimated for this phosphor sample is 3140 cm−1. The lifetime of the luminescence is also reported. The absolute quantum efficiency (QE) of the phosphor was evaluated, and it was found that the absolute QE decreases with increasing Eu2+ concentration. The phosphor shows an excellent quantum efficiency of 72.5% and a high thermal activation energy of 0.342 eV. The study concludes that Eu2+‐doped BaGaBO3F2 phosphor has promising luminescence application abilities and can be used as a blue‐emitting phosphor in a variety of applications.