New UVA‐emitting BaAlBO3F2:Eu2+ phosphor with PL and TL properties for phototherapy lamp

We present a new phosphor material, BaAlBO₃F₂ doped with Eu²⁺ ions, having emission in the UVA region. The phosphor material is prepared by a simple wet chemical method. Phase confirmation was carried out using the Rietveld refinement program which shows that BaAlBO₃F₂:Eu²⁺ has an hexagonal crystal system. Using a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy graph, we studied the bond stretching present in the phosphor material. Photoluminescence (PL) characterization, carried out using a RF spectrofluorophotometer, shows two types of PL excitation and emission. Before reduction, emission is in the blue region at 431 nm; after reduction, excitation is at 258 nm and emission is at 361 nm, which is in the UVA region. Some thermoluminescence (TL) studies were carried out in this material for the first time, for example, determination of the trapping parameters, linearity, fading, glow curve convolution and deconvolution (GCCD) function for curve fitting and the T_m–T_stop method for confirmation of the trapped centers in the TL glow peak. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.