Suppression of charge imbalance via Li+-Mn4+ co-incorporated Sr2YSbO6 red phosphors for warm w-LEDs

Mn4+-activated double perovskite phosphors with composition diversity have presented excellent luminescent performances. However, the charge imbalance between Mn4+ and matrix cations would increase non-radiative recombination and reduce the structural stability. Here, novel high-efficiency stable Li+/Mn4+ co-incorporated Sr2YSbO6 red phosphors are successfully synthesized via a solid-state reaction method for warm w-LEDs, where the Li+ ions have the effect of charge balance for Sr2YSbO6:Mn4+ and reduce the non-radiative energy transfer among Mn4+ ions. It is demonstrated that the substitution of Li+–Mn4+ pairs for Sb5+ can enhance the bonding with low-shifted diffraction peaks and high emission intensity, and prolong the decay lifetime, compared with those of Mn4+ single-doped ones. Impressively, the thermal stability is enhanced to 89.72% from 84.61% at the original value of 303 K. Finally, a w-LED device based on the optimal phosphor Sr2YSbO6:0.01Mn4+/0.01Li+ red component exhibits a correlated color temperature of 4487 K and color rendering index of 80.2. Therefore, the incorporated Li+ ions serve as both charge compensator and co-activator in Mn4+-activated double perovskite phosphors with the aim of high luminescent performance and thermal stability.