RESUMEN
Natural scapolite including the S2â» impurity is a typical silicate luminescent mineral. According to the formation conditions and chemical composition of natural scapolite, we synthesized Na4 Ca4 Al6 Si9O24 (scapolite) by the high temperature solid-phase reaction, and prepared the synthetic scapolite phosphors activated with Ce³âº and Tb³âº. The photoluminescence (PL) properties of the obtained phosphors were studied. The results indicated that the PL intensity of green (545 nm) emission corresponding to the 5D4-->7F5 transition within Tb³âº in the Ce³âº, Tb³âº-codoped samples was much higher than that of the Tb³âº-doped samples. The PL properties of the samples activated with various Ce³âº concentrations were measured, and their fluorescence lifetime and energy transfer mechanism were analyzed. We proved that there was energy transfer from Ce³âº to Tb³âº, and the energy transfer efficiency was at its maximum when the Ce³âº to Tb³âº mass ratio was 0.02: 0.03. Upon measurement by chromaticity coordinates, we found that the luminescence of the samples could be adjusted in the green area with varying Ce³âº concentrations. We thus deem that scapolite phosphors Na4Ca4 Al6 Si9 O24:Ce³âº, Tb³âº are promising to become the new white LED phosphors.