Synthesis and luminescence properties of a broadband near-infrared emitting non-gallate persistent luminescence Mg1.4Zn0.6SnO4:Cr3+ phosphor

Abstract

A series of novel non-gallate near-infrared long-persistent phosphorescence Mg_2−xZn_xSnO₄:Cr³⁺ phosphors were synthesized, and their structure and luminescence properties were investigated systematically. Under 448 nm blue light excitation, all the phosphors exhibit a broad emission band centered at 730 nm and a shoulder peak at 708 nm, which are attributed to the ⁴T₂(⁴F) → ⁴A₂ and ²E → ⁴A₂ transitions of Cr³⁺, respectively. The excitation spectra of the samples clearly show the characteristic excitation of Cr³⁺ in the octahedral crystal field, with three obvious peaks at 324, 448 and 620 nm respectively. The phosphor with a composition of Mg_1.4Zn_0.6SnO₄:0.03Cr³⁺ shows the strongest photoluminescence intensity which is 2.87 times and 3.09 times that of Mg₂SnO₄:0.03Cr³⁺ and Zn₂SnO₄:0.03Cr³⁺, respectively. Besides, all the samples show intense near-infrared long-persistent phosphorescence. For the optimized sample Mg_1.4Zn_0.6SnO₄:0.005Cr³⁺, its phosphorescence can still be observed with a night vision instrument 18 h after removing the 365 nm UV light source. Finally, a feasible phosphorescence mechanism of the Mg_1.4Zn_0.6SnO₄:Cr³⁺ phosphor was proposed and discussed. This study may provide a new method for developing novel near-infrared long-persistent phosphorescence phosphors through crystal structure modification.