Phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes (pc-WLEDs) are emerging as an indispensable solid-state light source for the next generation lighting industry and display systems due to their unique properties including but not limited to energy savings, environment-friendliness, small volume, and long persistence. Until now, major challenges in pc-WLEDs have been to achieve high luminous efficacy, high chromatic stability, brilliant color-rending properties, and price competitiveness against fluorescent lamps, which rely critically on the phosphor properties. A comprehensive understanding of the nature and limitations of phosphors and the factors dominating the general trends in pc-WLEDs is of fundamental importance for advancing technological applications. This report aims to provide the most recent advances in the synthesis and application of phosphors for pc-WLEDs with emphasis specifically on: (a) principles to tune the excitation and emission spectra of phosphors: prediction according to crystal field theory, and structural chemistry characteristics (e.g. covalence of chemical bonds, electronegativity, and polarization effects of element); (b) pc-WLEDs with phosphors excited by blue-LED chips: phosphor characteristics, structure, and activated ions (i.e. Ce 3+ and Eu 2+ ), including YAG:Ce, other garnets, non-garnets, sulfides, and (oxy)nitrides; (c) pc-WLEDs with phosphors excited by near ultraviolet LED chips: single-phased white-emitting phosphors (e.g. Eu 2+ –Mn 2+ activated phosphors), red-green-blue phosphors, energy transfer, and mechanisms involved; and (d) new clues for designing novel high-performance phosphors for pc-WLEDs based on available LED chips. Emphasis shall also be placed on the relationships among crystal structure, luminescence properties, and device performances. In addition, applications, challenges and future advances of pc-WLEDs will be discussed.

Phosphors in phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes: Recent advances in materials, techniques and properties

Solid-state lighting technology is now emerging as a cost-competitive,energy-efficient alternative to conventional electrical lighting. We review the history of lighting, discuss the benefits and challenges of the solid-state lighting technologies, and compare two approaches for generating white light from solid-state sources based on phosphor LEDs (which could be considered as solid-state replacement of fluorescent tubes) and multichip LED lamps,which offer many advantages, such as chromaticity control, better light quality,and higher efficiency.

Solid-State Lighting: Toward Superior Illumination

White light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) were fabricated by combining InGaN-based blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with highly luminescent Tb3Al5O12:Ce3+ (TAG:Ce), Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ (YAG:Ce), and Sr3SiO5:Eu2+ (SS:Eu). The TAG:Ce-based WLED showed a color rendering index (R
 a
 ) of 79 and a luminous efficiency (η
 L
 ) of 34.1 lm/W at 20 mA. The YAG:Ce-based WLED and the SS:Eu-based WLED showed low R
 a
 values of 75 and 57 but high luminous efficiency values of 38.9 and 41.3 lm/W at 20 mA, respectively. When a mixture of YAG:Ce and SS:Eu was coated on a blue LED and the resultant WLED operated at 20 mA, the WLED showed a highly bright white light similar to daylight (η
 L
 =40.9 lm/W, color temperature T
 c
 =5,716 K, and R
 a
 =76). Moreover, the WLED showed stable color coordinates against a considerable variation of applied current.

Improvement of electroluminescent property of blue LED coated with highly luminescent yellow-emitting phosphors

Highly efficient phosphor materials with superior thermal stability are indispensable for phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes (pc-WLEDs) solid state lighting. In order to obtain a high quality warm white light, near-ultraviolet (n-UV) chips combined with trichromatic phosphors have be extensively studied. Among them, the development of efficient blue phosphor remains a challenging task. In view of the close correlation between 5d–4f transitions of rare earth ions and the coordination environment of host lattice, many studies have been dedicated to improving the photoluminescence performances by modifying the lattice coordination environment including the lattice rigidity and symmetry. In this work, we reported highly efficient blue-emitting Eu2+-doped BaAl12O19 (BAO) phosphors with excellent thermal stability, which were prepared via the traditional high-temperature solid state reaction routes. According to the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) Rietveld refinement analysis, BAO owned a highly symm...

Highly Efficient Blue Emission and Superior Thermal Stability of BaAl12O19:Eu2+ Phosphors Based on Highly Symmetric Crystal Structure

An important aspect in the research and development of white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) is the discovery of highly efficient phosphors free of rare-earth (RE) elements. Herein we report the design and synthesis of a new type of RE-free, blue-excitable yellow phosphor, obtained by combining a strongly emissive molecular fluorophore with a bandgap modulating co-ligand, in a three-dimensional metal organic framework. [Zn6(btc)4(tppe)2(DMA)2] (btc = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate, tppe = 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-(pyridin-4-yl)phenyl)ethene, DMA = dimethylacetamide) crystallizes in a new structure type and emits bright yellow light when excited by a blue light source. It possesses the highest internal quantum yield among all RE-free, blue-excitable yellow phosphors reported to date, with a value as high as 90.7% (λex = 400 nm). In addition to its high internal quantum yield, the new yellow phosphor also demonstrates high external quantum yield, luminescent and moisture stability, solution processability, and color ...

Solution Processable MOF Yellow Phosphor with Exceptionally High Quantum Efficiency

Phosphor-converted light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were fabricated by precoating blue/green/red phosphors onto near ultraviolate (n-UV) LED chips prior to package into LED lamps. With a 20-mA injection current, it was found that the color temperature T/sub c/ was around 5900 K and the color-rendering index R/sub a/ was around 75 for the "n-UV+blue/green/red" white LED lamps. It was also found that no changes in color temperature T/sub c/ and color-rendering index R/sub a/ could be observed when we increased the injection from 20 to 60 mA. These results indicate that such "n-UV+blue/green/red" white LEDs are much more optically stable than the conventional "blue+yellow" LEDs.

J.M. Tsai

Papers

White-light emission from near UV InGaN-GaN LED chip precoated with blue/green/red phosphors