New strategy for designing orangish-red-emitting phosphor via oxygen-vacancy-induced electronic localization

Phosphor-converted white-light-emitting diodes (pc-WLED) have been extensively employed as solid-state lighting sources, which have a very important role in people's daily lives. However, due to the scarcity of the red component, it is difficult to realize warm white light efficiently. Hence, red-emitting phosphors are urgently required for improving the illumination quality. In this work, we develop a novel orangish-red La₄GeO₈:Bi³⁺ phosphor, the emission peak of which is located at 600 nm under near-ultraviolet (n-UV) light excitation. The full width at half maximum (fwhm) is 103 nm, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) exceeds 88%, and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) is 69%. According to Rietveld refinement analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, Bi³⁺ ions randomly occupy all La sites in orthorhombic La₄GeO₈. Importantly, the oxygen-vacancy-induced electronic localization around the Bi³⁺ ions is the main reason for the highly efficient orangish-red luminescence. These results provide a new perspective and insight from the local electron structure for designing inorganic phosphor materials that realize the unique luminescence performance of Bi³⁺ ions.