Albumin assisted sol-gel synthesized SrSnO3: Pr3+ red persistent phosphors for temperature sensing

SrSnO3: Pr3+ phosphors with red long afterglow (LAG)and temperature sensing were prepared by albumin assisted sol-gel method. The typical sample had cubic structure. The mean particle size was about 2.02 μm. The band gap values of samples were in the range of about 4.06–4.09 eV. The luminescent properties and LAG behaviors of SrSnO3: Pr3+ phosphors were investigated and the luminescence mechanism of red LAG was discussed. Albumin assisted SrSnO3: Pr3+ phosphor with a red long afterglow had an average decay time of 74.25 s. Pr3+ ions not only act as an activator, emitting red long afterglow, but also act as a trap provider. Moreover, the temperature sensing property was studied based on the non-thermal coupling FIR of TE and 3P0→3H4 transition emission. The relative sensitivity was as high as 3580.89/T2. The absolute sensitivity (Sa) and relative sensitivity (Sr) of SrSnO3: 0.5%Pr3+ were 0.0374 K-1 and 4.03% K−1, respectively. Its optical thermometry performance is better than that of most phosphors. It has the potential to be applied in the field of temperature sensing.