• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.620-626
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• 2015

$Ho^{3+}$ doped $SrAl_2O_4$ upconversion phosphor powders were synthesized by spray pyrolysis, and the crystallographic properties and luminescence characteristics were examined by varying activator concentrations and heattreatment temperatures. The effect of organic additives on the crystal structure and luminescent properties was also investigated. $SrAl_2O_4:Ho^{3+}$ powders showed intensive green emission due to the $^5F_4/^5S_2{\rightarrow}^5I_8$ transition of $Ho^{3+}$. The optimal $Ho^{3+}$ concentration in order to achieve the highest luminescence was 0.1%. Over this concentration, emission intensities were largely diminished via a concentration quenching due to dipole-dipole interaction between activator ions. According to the dependence of emission intensity on the pumping power of a laser diode, it was clear that the upconversion of $SrAl_2O_4:Ho^{3+}$ occurred via the ground state absorption-excited state absorption processes involving two near-IR photons. Synthesized powders were monoclinic as a major phase, having some hexagonal phase. The increase of heat-treatment temperatures from $1000^{\circ}C$ to $1350^{\circ}C$ led to crystallinity enhancement of monoclinic phase, reducing hexagonal phase. The hexagonal phase, however, did not disappear even at $1350^{\circ}C$. When both citric acid (CA) and ethylene glycol (EG) were added to the spray solution, the resulting powders had pure monoclinic phase without forming hexagonal phase, and led to largely enhancement of crystallinity. Also, N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) addition to the spray solution containing both CA and EG made it possible to effectively reduce the surface area of $SrAl_2O_4:Ho^{3+}$ powders. Consequently, the $SrAl_2O_4:Ho^{3+}$ powders prepared by using the spray solution containing CA/EG/DMF mixture as the organic additives showed about 168% improved luminescence compared to the phosphor prepared without organic additives. It was concluded that both the increased crystallinity of high-purity monoclinic phase and the decrease of surface area were attributed to the large enhancement of upconversion luminescence.