Luminescence Properties of Dual‐Emission ( UV /Visible) Long Afterglow Phosphor SrZrO ₃ : Pr ³⁺

Abstract

A dual‐emission ( UV /Visible) phosphor SrZrO 3 : Pr 3+ was prepared by a high‐temperature solid‐state reaction method. The afterglow including ultraviolet ( UV ) and visible region which originated from self‐trapped excitons and f – f transitions in Pr 3+ was first observed after the short UV ‐irradiation. All as‐prepared phosphors were studied systematically by X ‐ray diffraction, photoluminescence ( PL ) spectra, decay curves, long afterglow spectra ( LAG ), and thermoluminescence ( TL ) glow curves. The PL intensity and the performance of afterglow are dependent on the concentration of Pr 3+ ions. The optimal concentration of Pr 3+ ions for the brightest PL emission and the best afterglow characteristic were experimentally to be 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively. The different mechanisms for concentration quenching in both cases were discussed. A model was proposed on the basis of experimental results to discuss the mechanism of LAG in SrZrO 3 : Pr 3+ in detail.