Tunable luminescence Y₃Al₅O₁₂:0.06Ce³⁺, xMn²⁺ phosphors with different charge compensators for warm white light emitting diodes.

Y₃Al₅O₁₂:0.06Ce³⁺, xMn²⁺ (YAG:0.06Ce,xMn) phosphors have been synthesized and the effect of different charge compensators on the color adjustment has been investigated for the first time. The luminescence properties of Mn2+ singly doped and co-doped with Ce3+ into YAG host have been discussed. It is observed that in singly doped sample, Mn2+ ions not only occupy two kinds of Al3+ sites to generate a yellow and a deep red emission bands, but also occupy Y3+ sites to obtain a green emission band in YAG host. Considering Mn2+ substitution for Al3+, quadrivalence ions including Zr4+, Ge4+ and Si4+ ions are introduced to balance the charge difference. The results show that Si4+ as charge compensator exhibits the best tunable effect on controlling the Mn2+ emissions in YAG:0.06Ce, xMn. In Si4+-Mn2+ co-doped samples, the emission color can be tuned from greenish-yellow to red with increasing the content of Mn2+. The Commission International de L’Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates are also investigated.