Spectrum regulation of LuAG:Ce phosphor ceramic with Gd doping for high-brightness and high-power yellow-emitting LEDs applications

To realize the high-brightness of yellow light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the yellow-emitting phosphor ceramics with high luminous efficiency (LE) are urgently explored. Based on the idea of spectrum regulation, the Lu3-x-yGdyAl5O12:xCe3+ (LuGdAG:Ce) phosphor ceramics were prepared via vacuum solid-state sintering. The effect of Gd3+ and Ce3+ content on the structure, luminescence and thermal properties of LuAG:Ce ceramics were investigated. The distortion ratio (D) of CeO8 and bandgap were effectively modified via Gd3+ doping, resulting in massive red-shifting of Ce3+ emission (513→561 nm). The LEDs lighting encapsulated by LuGdAG:Ce ceramics changes from green to yellow. Importantly, the yellow LEDs with a LE up to 139.0 lm/W@180 W and a warm correlated color temperature (CCT) of 3620 K were achieved based ceramic Ce07Gd9. The LuGdAG:Ce phosphor ceramic has the best of luminescence performance in phosphor-converted yellow LEDs lighting so far, which is considered to be the highly promising color converter.