J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149 (0123456789().,-volV)(0123456789().

,-volV)

KSrVO4:Tb3+2A potential green-emitting

nanophosphor candidate for white LEDs
Pankaj Biswas1,* , Vinay Kumar2, and Kamni1

1
School of Physics, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, J and K 182320, India
2
Department of Physics and Astronomical Sciences, Central University of Jammu, Rahya-Suchani, Samba, J and K 181143, India

Received: 2 July 2022 ABSTRACT

Accepted: 19 December 2022 The present work reports the preparation of KSr(1 - 3x/2)VO4:xTb3? powders
Published online: (x = 0 to 5.0 mol%) via low-cost combustion route. The XRD study affirms the
17 January 2023 phase purity of the phosphors and established the nano-size of the powdered
grains which is also supported by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)
Ó The Author(s), under studies. The UV–Vis spectroscopy reveals that the title phosphor has appre-
exclusive licence to Springer ciable absorption efficiency in the UV excitation range from 190 to 400 nm. The
Science+Business Media, LLC, optical band gap and Urbach energy, respectively, were estimated to be 3.62 eV
part of Springer Nature 2023 and 100.6 meV. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra shows that under 311 nm
UV excitation corresponding to 4f8-4f75d transition of Tb3?, this phosphor
exhibited the characteristic green emission with enhanced intensity which was
ascribed to electric dipole transition 5D4 ? 7F5 of Tb3? ion. The CIE chromaticity
coordinates were used to find dominant wavelength, excitation purity and color
correlated temperature (CCT) of the phosphor. The nanophosphor has potential
to be explored as the green-emitting candidate for white light LEDs for reflected
light illumination applications.

1 Introduction Although an appreciably high amount of internal

quantum efficiencies (IQE) have been achieved for
The recent developments in the light-emitting diode InAlGaN-based blue LED [3] and the InAlGaP-based
(LED) technology has revealed that one of the red LED [4], however, the IQE of InGaN/GaN--
promising and feasible solutions towards develop- based green LEDs still lags reasonably in this aspect
ment of efficient white LEDs (WLEDs) could be a which is referred to as ‘‘green gap’’ [5]. Recently,
combination of efficient red, green and blue (RGB) advancements in various approaches such as semi-
LEDs [1]. The color-mixing approach in tunable RGB conductor processing; device packaging, improve-
LEDs systems for white light adjusts the mixed light ments in crystal quality, etc. to overcome the ‘‘green
through a wide color space [2]. The three band gap’’ for green LED chips have been reported, but
emission LED chips should have high quantum effi- they all involve complex processes and are not cost
ciency and color purity to have efficient (WLEDs). effective [6]. Moreover, combination of intrinsic RGB

Address correspondence to E-mail: [email protected]

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-09633-4
149 Page 2 of 10 J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149

LEDs amounts to incorrect color rendering in case of balanced chemical reaction for the doped sample
reflected light illumination (RLI) of living spaces and [Eq. (1)] as:
real physical objects due to lack of spectral richness of ð1  3x=2ÞSrðNO3 Þ2 þ KNO3 þ NH4 VO3
the resulting white light source [7]. Blue or n-UV
þ 2CH4 N2 O þ xTbðNO3 Þ3 ! KSrð13x=2Þ Tbx VO4 ðsÞ
pumped phosphor-converted green-emitting LEDs
can be used together with the red and blue LEDs to þ 10H2 O (lÞ þ 5CO2 ðgÞ þ 8N2 ðgÞ
produce light with broad spectral coverage for RLI ð1Þ
applications [8].
While there are a number of reports on preparation In addition, polyethylene glycol (PEG-4000) was
and characterization of rare-earth (RE) doped green- used as dispersant. The amount of PEG taken was
emitting phosphor [9–11], but scarce reports are 2.5% of the final product. The mixture of precursors
available on spectral investigations in KSrVO4:Tb3? was then crushed for about 45 min in a granite
green nanophosphor. Nanophosphors have unique mortar till a smooth thick paste was obtained. The
physical and chemical properties which are attrib- paste was then put into an alumina crucible. Finally,
uted to increased surface-to-volume ratio [12] and the crucible containing the mixture was put into
quantum confinement effect [13]. RE doped alkali- a muffle furnace preheated at temperature of 780 °C.
alkaline orthovanadates (AIBIIVO4), where AI is alkali The mixture underwent quick dehydration and
ion and BII is alkaline-earth ion, have high thermal foaming, followed by decomposition, and production
and hygroscopic stability [14, 15]. As pointed out by of combustible gases. The volatile gases ignite and
Slobodin et al. in one of their reports [14], the double burning took place with explosive flame and ulti-
orthovanadate KSrVO4 yield its low-temperature mately pale yellow soft powders were obtained. It
polymorphic transformation when synthesized at took 3–4 min to complete the entire reaction. To
any temperature below its melting point (* 1500 °C). increase the sample crystallinity, they were annealed
Vanadates also possess abundant energy levels in the at 825 °C for 3 h after further grinding. The samples
host to give away wide variety of luminescent were then cooled down to room temperature and
wavelengths for displays and lighting [16]. Particu- stored into micro-centrifuge vials for
larly, trivalent terbium ion (Tb3?) has extensively characterization.
been recognized for its sensitizing and significant
luminescence properties in green region of visible 2.2 Characterization
spectrum for lighting applications [17]. Therefore, it
To study the phase purity of the powders, powder
was encouraging for us to study the structural,
X-ray diffraction (pXRD) technique was used. The
morphological and spectral characteristics of
Panalytical X’pert3 XRD setup, operating at 40 kV,
KSrVO4:Tb3? to explore it as a component green
30 mA power rating, having Cu-Ka radiation with
phosphor used in WLEDs for RLI applications.
k = 1.54056 Å in the range 0° B 2h B 90°, was used.
The morphology of the samples were examined by
Hitachi-7500 transmission electron microscope (TEM)
2 Experimental
operating at 40–120 kV with 0.36 nm resolution and
2.1 Phosphor preparation CCD camera arrangement. For recording photolu-
minescence (PL) excitation and emission spectra and
The powdered samples of KSr(1-3x/2)TbxVO4 (0 B x for performing decay studies, the Agilent Cary-
B 0.05) were prepared by low-cost combustion Eclipse Spectrofluorometer having xenon lamp
method. The AR grade strontium nitrate (Sr(NO3)2), source was used. For diffuse reflectance studies,
potassium nitrate (KNO3), urea (H2NCONH2), Shimadzu double beam UV-Spectrophotometer with
ammonium metavanadate (NH4VO3) and hydrated ISR-2600 plus integrating sphere assembly was used.
terbium nitrate (Tb(NO3)2.5H2O) were used as pre-
cursors and all were mixed in the stoichiometric
composition so as to keep equivalent oxidizer (metal
nitrates) to fuel (urea) ratio as unity. The overall
J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149 Page 3 of 10 149

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Structural Studies: pXRD

The pXRD pattern of optimized KSr0.9475VO4:0.035-

Tb3? powder prepared in the present study is shown
in Fig. 1. The XRD pattern agree well with pure
KSrVO4 with JCPDS card No. 085–0273 and indicate
that the single phase formation with Tb3? ions have
no obvious influence on the structure of the host.
KSrVO4 crystallizes in orthorhombic structure and
has a space group of Pnma with lattice parameters
a = 7.4436 Å, b = 9.9583 Å, c = 5.8241 Å and
V = 431.72 Å3 as calculated using POWD program
[18].
Since the ionic radii of Tb3? (92.3 pm) and Sr2?
(118 pm) are similar, Tb3? is expected to occupy the Fig. 2 Crystallite size determination using Modified Scherrer plot
Sr2? site preferably. The crystallite size was estimated
using modified Scherrer formula [19], [Eq. (2)]: Tb3? in KSrVO4 lattices are either the K? sites or the
Sr2? sites. Table 1 shows ionic radii percentage dif-
kk kk 1
ln b ¼ ln ¼ ln þ ln ð2Þ ference (Dr) between the probable substituted ions
L  cos h L cos h (K?, Sr2? and V5?) and Tb3? ion in KSrVO4 on the
Figure 2 illustrates the technique to estimate grain basis of formula [Eq. (3)] [20]:
 
size using lnðbÞ vs lnð1= cos hÞ plot. By equating the ½Rh ðCNÞ  Rd ðCNÞ 
h d
intercept on the y-axis to ln(kk/L), the crystallite size Dr ¼  100 ð3Þ
Rh ðCNÞh
was found to be 38.72 nm.
The Tb3? (RTb = 0.923 Å, CNTb = 6) ion has a much From the fourth column in Table 1, Tb3? ion, on
larger ionic radius, compared with that of V5? (RV- account of its contiguous [20] ionic radius, has most
= 0.355 Å, CNV = 4). However, the ionic radii of K? likely replaced Sr2? in KSrVO4 lattice. As a conse-
(RK = 1.38 Å, CNK = 6) and Sr2? (RSr = 1.18 Å, quence, the substitution of trivalent Tb3? ions in
CNSr = 6) ions are larger than that of Tb3? ion. Thus, KSrVO4 requires charge compensation mechanism,
the two possible sites available for the incorporating which can be designated as: 3Sr2? $ 2Tb3?
? vacancy.

3.2 Morphological studies: TEM

The high resolution (HR) TEM images corresponding

to KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? phosphor is shown in
Fig. 3. The images represent non-uniform particles
with agglomerated morphology. The agglomerated
morphology of the particles was resolved using

Table 1 Radius percentage differences (Dr) between matrix

cations (K?, Sr2?, V5?) and doped ion (Tb3?) [21]

Ion Ionic radius (R) (pm) CN Dr

Tb3? 92.3 6 –
K? 138 6 * 33.12%
Fig. 1 Matching XRD profile of KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? Sr2? 118 6 * 21.78%
phosphor with standard JCPDS pattern V5? 35.5 4 * 290%
149 Page 4 of 10 J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149

Fig. 3 HRTEM micrographs

for KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3
nanophosphor

ImageJ software [22] in which an appropriate ratio

between the scale bar and image pixels was set. Then
the diameters in two fixed directions, preferably,
horizontal and vertical were measured manually for
all the randomly oriented and irregularly shaped
particles. The particle size distribution histogram of
the sample is also portrayed in Fig. 4. The peak
position of the resulting Lorentzian fitted histogram
gave away the average particle size to be 41.8 nm
which is close to value from XRD data.

3.3 Diffuse Reflectance Studies: UV–Vis

The diffused reflectance spectra for KSr(1-3x/2)VO4:-

xTb3? (x = 0, 0.035) scanned in the range from 190–
1400 nm are as shown in Fig. 5. These exhibit strong
absorption band about 280 nm which is attributed to Fig. 4 Particle size distribution histogram with Lorentz peak
the 4f-5d transition of Tb3?. No absorption peaks shape fitting for optimized KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3?
were observed either in the visible region or in the nanophosphor
near-infrared region. For the optical band gap of the
material, Kubelka–Munk [23] transformation func-
tion [Eq. (4)] was used: For direct allowed transition, the absorption func-
tion F(R?) and energy band gap Eg of material are
K ð1  R1 Þ2 related by the Tauc [24] equation [Eq. (5)] as
FðR1 Þ ¼ ¼ ; ð4Þ
S 2R1
½ FðR1 Þhm2 ¼ Aðhm  Eg Þ ð5Þ
where R1 ¼ Rsample =Rstandard = the diffused reflectance
relative to standard sample (normally BaSO4 pow- The linear part of Tauc plot for optimized phos-
der), K = absorption factor and S = scattering coeffi- phor when extrapolated upto hm-axis gave optical
cient [23]. band gap of 3.26 eV (for undoped) and 3.62 eV (for
optimally doped) phosphor. The inset of Fig. 5 illus-
trates this method.
J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149 Page 5 of 10 149

Further, the optimized KSrVO4:Tb3? nanophos- a broad absorption band which is split into one
phor has absorption efficiency of 77.96% when the strongly intense band about 311 nm and other high
UV wavelength in the range from 190 to 1400 nm is energy band at lower intensity about 227 nm. Both
incident on the sample. It can be observed that the these bands correspond to the spin-allowed 4f8-4f7-
phosphors experience an increase in the band gap 5d transitions of Tb3? [28] and are situated in the
with optimized dopant concentration which is short-wave UV region. The position of this broad
attributed to the Burstein–Moss shift [25] following absorption band depends on the local environment of
which there is decrease in number of available states Tb3? ions. The broad band character of 4f8-4f7-
for electrons near the excited band edge as the doping 5d transition of Tb3? is attributed to the strong
level and hence, the chemical potential increases. interaction of non-shielded 5d-electrons with the
Thus at an elevated photon energy, the same amount neighboring ligands in the material [29]. Further, due
of absorption will be produced which makes the to distorted octahedron occupation of Tb3? ion in
absorption edge to shift to greater energies.
To account for the correlation of the width of the
tail of localized states in the band gap with the
structural imperfections and disorders in the sample,
Urbach energy [26, 27] contained in Eq. (6) was
calculated:
 
hm
a ¼ a0 exp ; ð6Þ
Ec
where Ec is the band tail width and a0 is a constant.
The slope value of the graph between ln (a) and hm
(Fig. 6) when inversed gave Urbach energy as
100.6 meV which is under crystallinity limits.

3.4 Luminescence studies

Figure 7 shows the photoluminescence spectra of the

obtained KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? nanophosphor. The
excitation spectrum monitored at 545 nm consists of Fig. 6 ln (a) and hm plot for Urbach energy calculation in
KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? nanophosphor

Fig. 5 UV–Vis-NIR DRS plots of (a) KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3?

and (b) KSrVO4 (undoped) samples; [inset]: Tauc plotting method
for optical band gap determination for the doped and undoped Fig. 7 Photoluminescence (PL) excitation and emission spectra
samples for KSr(1-3x/2)VO4:xTb.3? (x = 0.035)
149 Page 6 of 10 J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149

KSrVO4, the less-symmetrical crystal-field may have  13

3V
splitted the broad band into higher eg level and lower Rc  2 ð7Þ
4pxc N
t2g level [30]. This suggests that the title phosphor can
be well pumped by UV (about 310 nm) InAlGaN- By taking the experimental values of unit cell vol-
based quaternary LEDs [31]. The emission spectrum ume, V = 431.72 Å3, No. of cations in the unit cell,
of KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? consists of a series of sharp N = 4, and optimal molar concentration of activators,
lines at 490, 545, 586 and 623 nm based on charac- xc = 0.035, the Rc value for Tb3? in KSrVO4:Tb3?
teristic 5D4 ? 7FJ (J = 6, 5, 4, 3, respectively) transi- phosphor is found to be 18.06 Å.
tions of Tb3? [17]. The most dominant emission about Generally, three main aspects viz. radiation re-ab-
545 nm corresponds to 5D4 ? 7F6 (DJ = 2) transition sorption, exchange interaction and multi-polar inter-
and is the induced electric dipole transition. This action are considered to be responsible for the
transition is sensitive to ligand environment [32]. resonant energy transfer mechanism from one Tb3?
This emission about 490 nm has considerable overlap ion to another Tb3? ion [35]. The mechanism of
with 4f-4f excitation 7F6 ? 5D4 of Tb3?. radiation re-absorption unlikely to occur in this case
The effect of Tb3? dopant concentration on the since there is no broad spectral overlap of the donor
emission of KSr(1-3x/2)VO4:xTb3? phosphors was also and acceptor. As purposed by Dexter [36], normally
investigated. Emission intensity of KSr(1-3x/2)VO4:- during forbidden transitions, the exchange interac-
xTb3? with different Tb3? concentration is shown in tion is responsible for the energy transfer. In the
Fig. 8. The Tb3? concentrations into the host material present case, Rc is far greater than that (* 5 Å)
do not influence the positions of emission peaks for identified by Dexter, Thus, the mechanism of
all the compositions. At first, the emission intensity exchange interaction is also not likely to be effica-
increases with Tb3? concentration, reaches the maxi- cious in the present case.
mum for x = 0.035 and eventually the concentration Therefore, the electric multipolar interaction con-
quenching effects predominate after x = 0.035 [33]. trols energy transfer between Tb3? ions in KSrVO4
The critical energy transfer distance between donor phosphor. The type of multipolar interaction can be
and acceptor in the phosphor as pointed out by determined for energy transfer taking place between
Blasse [34] is given by Eq. (7): the same kinds of activators by the formula [37]
concerning emission intensity per unit activator
concentration [Eq. (8)]:
I h i1
¼ K 1 þ b ðxÞQ=3 ; ð8Þ
x
where x C xc; Q has some fixed value (6 for dipole–
dipole, 8 for dipole-quadrupole or 10 for quadrupole-
qualdrupole) for different types of multipolar inter-
actions; and K and b are constants for the identical
condition for excitation of the host material.
The graph between ln(I/x) and ln(x) shows as lin-
ear relationship with negative slope as shown in
Fig. 9. The slope was obtained as - 2.718 ± 0.216
and the value of Q was calculated to be 8.154 & 8,
using Eq. [8], with standard error in Q as 0.648. This
shows that the main mechanism for concentration
quenching in KSrVO4:Tb3? nanophosphor is the
dipole–quadrupole interaction. The result is sup-
ported by one of the earlier studies made by Verste-
gen et al. [37] in which he reported that the
Fig. 8 Emission spectra for KSr(1–3x/2)VO4:xTb3? nanophosphor
probability of electric dipole-quadrupole interaction
with varying concentration of Tb3? ions under 311 nm excitation;
is more dominant than that of forbidden electric
[inset]: Plot of emission intensity vs Tb3? concentration
J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149 Page 7 of 10 149

dipole–dipole interaction for resonant energy transfer where P(k) is the emission energy per unit wave-
among Tb3? ions. length and AðkÞ is the absorbance per unit length as
Figure 10 shows the luminescence decay curves of determined from the PL emission and diffuse reflec-
phosphor samples with different Tb3? concentration tance spectra, respectively, of the optimized phos-
at 311 nm excitation and 545 nm emission. The decay phor [41]. The external quantum yield of the
behavior of the curve can be expressed by Eq. (9): phosphor was obtained as 42.91%. The integrated
IðtÞ ¼ A þ Bet=s1 þ Cet=s2 ð9Þ intensity of KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? (excitation by
311 nm) is about 52.4% of the commercial Zn2SiO4:-
with s1 ,s2 as the decay times for fast and slow Mn2? green phosphor (excitation by 245 nm) [42] as
decay components, respectively, which are obtained shown in Fig. 12.
by second order exponential fitting of the curve; A, B Figure 12 shows the CIE coordinates of KSr0.9475-
and C are constants [38]. VO4:0.035Tb3? nanophosphor. The CIE coordinates
For the optimized KSrVO4:Tb3? phosphor, effec- were obtained to be (0.298, 0.612). As illustrated in
tive lifetime seff, using s1 and s2, was determined to be
0.872 ms as indicated in Fig. 11. This lifetime in mil-
liseconds is ascribed to forbidden nature of f-f tran-
sitions of Tb3? (5D4) [39] and is quite shorter than
those of commercial Zn2SiO4:Mn (11.9 ms) and Y2-
Al5O12:Tb (4.2 ms) green-emitting phosphors [40].
The lifetime of excited states in KSrVO4:Tb3? for
different activator concentration was also calculated.
It was observed that the lifetime values firstly
increase with the dopant concentration and then
decreases beyond x = 0.025 as shown in the inset of
Fig. 10. The decrease in the lifetime is ascribed to the
non-radiative energy transfer among the Tb3? ions at
higher concentration in the host.
The quantum yield of the KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3?
phosphor was estimated using the Eq. (10):
R
kPðkÞdk Fig. 10 Luminescence decay curve for KSr(1-3x/2)VO4:xTb3?
g¼ R ; ð10Þ
kAðkÞdk samples with varying Tb3? concentration; [inset]: Plot of decay
time vs Tb3? concentration

Fig. 9 Plot of log (I/x) vs log (x) for KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3?

nanophosphor Fig. 11 Decay curve for KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? nanophosphor
149 Page 8 of 10 J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149

Fig. 12 PL spectra (kex = 311 nm) of KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3?

nanophosphor and commercial Zn2SiO4:Mn2? green phosphor
(kex = 254 nm) at room temperature

Fig. 13, the dominant wavelength was found to be

547.8 nm. To account for excitation purity of the
synthesized phosphor, the distances a and b, as
shown in the diagram, is calculated using formula Fig. 13 The chromaticity coordinate diagram for
[Eq. (11)]: KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? nanophosphor under 311 nm excitation
a
Excitation purity ¼ ; ð11Þ
b The wide optical band gap (3.26 eV) and low Urbach
where a is the distance between the CIE point and energy (100.6 meV) of the material suggests that the
CIE white illuminant point and b is that between phosphor host can accommodate substantial quantity
white illuminant point and the dominant wavelength of Tb3? ions into its crystal lattice and that too with
point on the spectral edge of 1931 CIE chromaticity retained crystallinity. The diffuse reflectance studies
diagram [43]. In the present case, the excitation purity revealed that the phosphor has significant absorption
was found to be 74.5%. efficiency of 77.96% in the UV excitation range of
Further, the color correlated temperature (CCT) 190–400 nm of the nanophosphor. The PL studies of
[44] using Eq. (12): KSr(1 - 3x/2)VO4:xTb3? further affirms the strong
absorption band in the UV region about 311 nm. The
CCT ¼ 449n3 þ 3525n2  6823n þ 5520:33 ð12Þ
decay curve indicates that the nanophosphor pro-
was found to be * 5934 K. vides effective energy transfer between the optically
active Tb3? ions and the vanadate host which may be
ascribed to the effective decay life time of 0.947 ms
4 Conclusions which is more or less 10 times shorter than that of
commercial Zn2SiO4:Mn2? green phosphor. Further,
The KSr(1 - 3x/2)VO4:xTb3? (0 B x B 5.0) powdered electric dipole-quadrupole interaction is found to be
materials were successfully prepared by economical mainly responsible for energy transfer between Tb3?
and self- propagating combustion method. The ions. The chromaticity coordinates of the optimized
powder XRD technique showed that the powders dopant concentration for KSrVO4:Tb3? phosphor
crystallized into single phase orthorhombic structure exhibited the dominant wavelength as 547.8 nm with
falling into the Pnma space group. The modified excitation purity of 74.5%. The integrated intensity of
Scherrer method was used to estimate the crystallite the optimized phosphor KSr0.9475VO4:0.035Tb3? is as
size of material as 38.72 nm. The TEM studies further much as 52.4% of commercial Zn2SiO4:Mn2? mate-
supported the nano-size of the powdered grains rial. The present phosphor can be explored as a
possessing mixed and agglomerated morphology. promising green-emitting nanophosphor candidate
J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149 Page 9 of 10 149

to be used in WLEDs for applications in indoor or 6. Q. Zhou, M. Xu, H. Wang, Opto-Electron. Rev. 24(1), 1
outdoor reflected light illumination. (2016)
7. C. Guo, S. Wang, T. Chen, L. Luan, Y. Xu, Appl. Phys. A 94,
365 (2009)
Acknowledgements 8. J.K. Park, C.H. Kim, S.H. Park, H.D. Park, S.Y. Choi, Appl.
Phys. Lett. 84, 1647 (2004)
The authors are thankful to the Sophisticated Ana- 9. N.S. Satpute, S.J. Dhoble in Energy Materials: Fundamentals
lytical Instrumentation Facility (SAIF), Panjab to Applications, ed. By S.J. Dhoble, N.T. Kalyani, B. Ven-
University, Chandigarh for its valuable support and gadaesvaran, A.K. Arof (Elsevier, Netherlands, 2021) p. 407
quick service in collecting data from powder XRD 10. Y. Zhuo, S. Hariyani, J. Zhong, J. Brgoch, Chem. Mater.
and HRTEM facility at subsidised charges. 33(9), 3304 (2021)
11. H. Chen, Y. Wang, Inorg. Chem. 58(11), 7440 (2019)
12. D. Jia, Chem. Eng. Comm. 194, 1666 (2007)
Author contributions 13. X.Y. Chen, H.Z. Zhuang, G.K. Liu, S. Li, R.S. Niedbala, J.
Appl. Phys. 94, 5559 (2003)
PB Data collection, Methodology, Software, Formal
14. B.V. Slobodin, L.L. Surat, R.F. Samigullina, A.V. Ishchenko,
analysis, Validation, Writing—original draft. VK
A.N. Cherepanov, B.V. Shul’gin, Inorg. Mater. 45, 428 (2009)
Conceptualization, Investigation, Validation, Writ-
15. P. Biswas, V. Kumar, O.M. Ntwaeaborwa, H.C. Swart, A.I.P.
ing—review and editing. K Writing—review and
Conf, Proc. 1728, 020552 (2016)
editing, Visualization.
16. N.I. Kordyukov, B.V. Shul’gin, F.F. Gavrilov, A.A. Fotiev,
V.Y. Kara-Ushanov, Russ. Phys. J. 16(3), 359 (1973)
17. C.P. Reddy, V. Naresh, R. Ramaraghavulu, B.H. Rudra-
Data availability
madevi, K.T.R. Reddy, S. Buddhudu, Spectrochim. Acta A
The datasets generated during and/or analysed Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc. 144, 68 (2015)
during the current study are available from the cor- 18. E. Wu, Appl. Cryst. 22, 506 (1989)
responding author on reasonable request. 19. P. Biswas, V. Kumar, O.M. Ntwaeaborwa, H.C. Swart, Mater.
Res. Express 2(2), 025010 (2015)
Declarations 20. A.M. Pires, M.R. Davolos, Chem. Mater. 13, 21 (2001)
21. P. Biswas, V. Kumar, Kamni, Mater. Today: Proc. 28, 1018
Conflict of interests The authors declare that they (2020)
have no known competing financial or non-financial 22. C.A. Schneider, W.S. Rasband, K.W. Eliceiri, Nat. Methods
interests or personal relationships that could have 9(7), 671 (2012)
appeared to influence the work reported in the pre- 23. A.E. Morales, E.S. Mora, U. Pal, Rev. Mex. Fis. S 53, 18
sent paper. (2007)
24. E.A. Davis, N.F. Mott, Phil. Mag. 22, 903 (1970)
25. M. Grundmann, The Physics of Semiconductors (Springer,
References NewYork, 2006), pp.332–334
26. F.N.C. Anyaegbunam, C. Augustine, Dig. J. Nanomater.
1. M. Usman, M. Munsif, U. Mushtaq, A.R. Anwa, N.
Biostruct. 13(3), 847 (2018)
Muhammad, Crit. Rev. Solid State Mater. Sci. 46(5), 450
27. P. Norouzzadeh, Kh. Mabhouti, M.M. Golzan, R. Naderali,
(2021)
Optik-Int. J. Light Electron Opt. 204, 164227 (2020)
2. X. Feng, W. Xu, Q. Han, S. Zhang, Opt. Express. 24(1), 573
28. H. Kwak, S. Kim, H. Yoon, S. Park, H. Choi, Electroceram
(2016)
23, 397 (2009)
3. R.J. Hyun, P.D. Yoder, L. Jianping, Z. Lochner, K. Hyunsoo,
29. S. Zhou, Z. Fu, J. Zhang, S. Zhang, J. Lumin. 118, 179 (2006)
C. Suk, J.K. Hee, R.D. Dupuis, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. 15,
30. G. Blasse, A. Bril, Philips Res. Rep. 22, 481 (1967)
1080 (2009)
31. H. Hirayama, T. Kyono, K. Akita, T. Nakamura, K. Ishibashi,
4. M.H. Crawford, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. 15, 1028 (2009)
Electr. Eng. Jpn. 157, 225 (2006)
5. Z. Jun, Z.X. Jing, L.D. Wei, Y. Lei, L. Kai, Z.Y. Wen, D.J.
32. T. Hoshina, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 6, 1203 (1967)
Sheng, W.X. Fu, L.S. Ti, I.E.E.E. Photonic, Tech. L 27, 117
33. G. Blasse, B.C. Grabmaier, Luminescent Materials (Springer,
(2015)
Berlin, 1994), pp.95–102
149 Page 10 of 10 J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2023) 34:149

34. G. Blasse, Phys. Lett. A 28, 444 (1968) 43. D. Malacara, Color Vision and Colorimetry: Theory and
35. M. Li, L. Wang, W. Ran, Z. Deng, J. Shi, C. Ren, Materials Applications (SPIE Press, Bellingham, 2002), pp.82–90
10, 227 (2017) 44. C.S. McCamy, Color Res. Appl. 17, 142 (1992)
36. D.L. Dexter, J. Chem. Phys. 21, 836 (1953)
37. J.M.P.J. Verstegen, J.L. Sommerdijk, J.G. Verriet, J. Lumin. 6, Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with
425 (1973) regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
38. Y. Pan, Q. Su, H. Xu, T. Chen, W. Ge, C. Yang, M. Wu, J. institutional affiliations.
Solid State Chem. 174, 69 (2003)
39. F. Wang, H. Song, G. Pan, L. Fan, B. Dong, L. Liu, X. Bai, R. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other
Qin, X. Ren, Z. Zheng, S. Lu, J. Lumin. 128, 2013 (2008) partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a
40. C.H. Park, S.J. Park, B.Y. Yu, H.S. Bae, C.H. Kim, C.H. publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsh-
Pyun, J. Mater. Sci. Lett. 19, 335 (2000) older(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript
41. W. Li, R.J. Xie, T. Zhou, L. Liuc, Y. Zhu, Dalton Trans. 43, version of this article is solely governed by the terms of
6132 (2014) such publishing agreement and applicable law.
42. V.B. Bhatkar, S.K. Omanwar, S.V. Moharil, Phys. Stat. Sol.
191(1), 272 (2002)