Thermally stable and highly efficient red-emitting Eu3+-doped Cs3GdGe3O9 phosphors for WLEDs: non-concentration quenching and negative thermal expansion

Red phosphor materials play a key role in improving the lighting and backlit display quality of phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes (pc-WLEDs). However, the development of a red phosphor with simultaneous high efficiency, excellent thermal stability and high colour purity is still a challenge. In this work, unique non-concentration quenching in solid-solution Cs3Gd1 - xGe3O9:xEu3+ (CGGO:xEu3+) (x = 0.1-1.0) phosphors is successfully developed to achieve a highly efficient red-emitting Cs3EuGe3O9 (CEGO) phosphor. Under the optimal 464 nm blue light excitation, CEGO shows a strong red emission at 611 nm with a high colour purity of 95.07% and a high internal quantum efficiency of 94%. Impressively, this red-emitting CEGO phosphor exhibits a better thermal stability at higher temperatures (175-250 °C, >90%) than typical red K2SiF6:Mn4+ and Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphors, and has a remarkable volumetric negative thermal expansion (coefficient of thermal expansion, α = -5.06 × 10-5/°C, 25-250 °C). By employing this red CEGO phosphor, a fabricated pc-WLED emits warm white light with colour coordinates (0.364, 0.383), a high colour rendering index (CRI = 89.7), and a low colour coordinate temperature (CCT = 4508 K). These results indicate that this highly efficient red-emitting phosphor has great potential as a red component for pc-WLEDs, opening a new perspective for developing new phosphor materials.