Synthesis, structure and tunable red emissions of Ca(Al/Si)2N2(N1−xOx):Eu2+prepared by alloy-nitridation method

A series of phosphors, Eu-doped Ca(Al/Si)2N2(N1−xOx), derivatives of CaAlSiN3, were synthesized by alloy-nitridation method. We demonstrated that their emission peaks can be tuned from 650 nm to 610 nm by oxygen preferential substitutions of nitrogen located at one of two crystallographic sites. Two luminescent centers corresponding to two types of Eu2+-coordination modes, i.e. EuNI2NII3 and EuNI2NII2O, were identified and accounted for the emission band structures, emission band shifts with oxygen/nitrogen substitutions, and the dependence of peak position and integrated emission intensity on temperature. As a typical example, Ca(Al/Si)2N2(N0.80O0.20):0.02Eu showed intense orange–red emission peaking at 622 nm and kept the feature of excellent chemical stabilities, which would have potential applications in fabricating the white light-emitting diode. The excellent luminescent properties of these materials, such as wavelength-tunable red emission and excellent chemical stabilities, make them practical for use in typical LED package.