Ravishing blue emission from Ce3+ activated lithium borate glasses for photonic applications

Lithium borate glasses activated with specific concentrations of Ce3+ ions have been processed by melt quenching technique. X-ray diffraction and SEM with EDAX carried out structural and surface morphology with elemental confirmation respectively. The nebulous nature of glassy matrices have been affirmatively confirmed by XRD and it was corroborated with SEM analysis. A distinguished absorption band is noticed in the ultraviolet region and the photoluminescence spectra displays a broad and intense blue emission band in the region from 395 nm to 570 nm which is centered at 447 nm (5d→4f) by exciting with 350 nm in Ce3+: LBZ glassy matrices. The dazzling blue emission intensity was significantly ameliorated by improving the addition of Ce3+ ion concentration in the glass matrix. The blue emission intensity has been found to be decreased at higher concentrations due to concentration quenching and the optimal concentration of Ce3+ ions is estimated to be 0.5 mol%. The fluorescence decay time has been evaluated as 0.86 ms from the decay profile of 0.5 mol% Ce3+: LBZ glass. Chromaticity coordinates were determined from the luminescence spectra, which are found to be falls in the bright blue region. The obtained blue emission CIE coordinates are close to standard EBU and NTSC coordinates for blue illumination. In view of these spectral features, 0.5 mol% Ce3+: LBZ glass could be recommended as promising candidate for the applications of blue emissive photonic devices.