Synthesis of novel Phosphor Materials for Luminescence Down-Conversion in Blue LED Devices

Lately, phosphor materials have attracted a great amount of research interest due to their role in emerging technologies such as solid state lighting devices, including light emitting diodes (LEDs). Photoluminescent materials often consist of a host matrix and luminescent centers (rare earth atoms), which emit electromagnetic radiation upon excitation. The objective of this research project is to synthesize and characterize novel phosphors excited by the blue to UV spectrum, and emitting yellow. An important application of such phosphors is white solid-state lighting, which takes advantage of the fact that yellow and blue light can be combined to give white light. The luminescent characteristics of a given phosphor depend largely on crystal structure (the region surrounding luminescent centers) and chemical composition, and even seemingly minor structural differences can result in markedly altered luminescent signatures. Solid state, solution, and sol-gel techniques are utilized to synthesize materials in order to compare the effects of temperature, crystallinity, and particle size. This project's focus is synthesizing oxide hosts doped with lanthanide species, as well as the subsequent characterization of these materials via X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectroscopy methods. These techniques will help explain the effects of chemistry and crystal structure on luminescent properties.