Improving the luminescence properties of Ba3Eu(PO4)3 by doping Sm3+ as sensitizer

For enhancing the emission intensity and broadening the excitation region of Ba3Eu(PO4)3 (BEP), Sm3+ is doped as sensitizer in this paper. BEP:Sm3+ can produce an obvious red emission at near ultraviolet (n-UV) radiation. An effective energy transfer from Sm3+ to Eu3+ is proved. The commission international de I’Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates of BEP:Sm3+ locate at red region. When the environment temperature is 150 °C, the emission intensity of BEP:0.10Sm3+ is decreased to 76% of the initial one at room temperature, and the activation energy is calculated to be 0.164 eV, which can prove the good thermal stability of BEP:Sm3+. The results indicate that BEP:Sm3+ may have potential applications in white light emitting diodes (LEDs).