Ce3+-Activated SrLu2Al3ScSiO12 Cyan-Green-Emitting Garnet-Structured Inorganic Phosphor Materials toward Application in Blue-Chip-Based Phosphor-Converted Solid-State White Lighting

Phosphor-converted white-light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) with superhigh color rendering index (CRI) are the ongoing pursuit of next-generation solid-state lighting. One of the most important challenges is the limited improvement in CRI on account of the absence of a cyan component in the typical commercial combination. Here, a bright broad-band cyan-green-emitting phosphor with cubic garnet structure, SrLu2Al3ScSiO12:Ce3+ (SLASSO:Ce3+), was successfully reported, which can compensate for the absence of cyan cavity in the 480–520 nm blue-green emission region. With 439 nm blue-light irradiation, the as-fabricated SLASSO:Ce3+ phosphor yields a broad-band cyan-green emission with the maximum emission peak positioned at 525 nm and an appropriate full width at half-maximum (fwhm) of 111 nm, capable of providing more cyan emission component without sacrificing green emission. Meanwhile, the optimal SLASSO:2%Ce3+ phosphor features CIE color coordinates of (0.3254, 0.5470) with cyan-green hue, along with a high internal quantum efficiency of up to 93%. Additionally, thermal stability measurements at different temperatures reveal that the luminescence emission intensity of the proposed phosphor retains 44% of its original integral emission intensity at 423 K with respect to room temperature, while also demonstrating an excellent color stability (ΔE = 5.4 × 10–3). This work shows that the highly efficient SLASSO:Ce3+ garnet phosphor can be utilized as a potential cyan-green-emitting phosphor for filling the cyan gap, resulting in the construction of a high-quality warm WLED with high CRI for "human-centric" sunlight-like full-spectrum solid-state illumination.