Synthesis and Characterization of the CaTiO3:Eu3+ Red Phosphor by an Optimized Microwave-Assisted Sintering Process

Abstract

The synthesis process has a significant influence on the properties of Ca_1-xTiO₃:Eu³⁺_x phosphors; thus, an optimized process will lead to a better performance of the Ca_1-xTiO₃:Eu³⁺_x phosphors. In this work, the feasibility of synthesizing the Ca_1-xTiO₃:Eu³⁺_x phosphor with a good luminescent performance by combining the chemical co-precipitation method and microwave-assisted sintering was studied. The precursor of Ca_1-xTiO₃:Eu³⁺_x phosphors were prepared by the chemical co-precipitation method. To find an optimized process, we applied both of the traditional (furnace) sintering and the microwave-assisted sintering to synthesize the Ca_1-xTiO₃:Eu³⁺_x phosphors. We found out that a sintering power of 528 W for 50 min (temperature around 950 °C) by a microwave oven resulted in similar emission intensity results compared to traditional furnace sintering at 900 °C for 2.5 h. The synthesized Ca_1-xTiO₃:Eu³⁺_x phosphors has an emission peak at 617 nm (⁵D₀→⁷F₂), which corresponds to the red light band. This new synthesized method is an energy efficient, time saving, and environmentally friendly means for the preparation of Ca_1-xTiO₃:Eu³⁺_x red phosphor with good luminescent performance.