Phosphor Deposits of β-Sialon:Eu(2+) Mixed with SnO(2) Nanoparticles Fabricated by the Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) Process

The phosphor deposits of the β-sialon:Eu(2+) mixed with various amounts (0–1 g) of the SnO(2) nanoparticles were fabricated by the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) process. The mixed SnO(2) nanoparticles was observed to cover onto the particle surfaces of the β-sialon:Eu(2+) as well as fill in the voids among the phosphor particles. The external and internal quantum efficiencies (QEs) of the prepared deposits were found to be dependent on the mixing amount of the SnO(2): by comparing with the deposit without any mixing (48% internal and 38% external QEs), after mixing the SnO(2) nanoparticles, the both QEs were improved to 55% internal and 43% external QEs at small mixing amount (0.05 g); whereas, with increasing the mixing amount to 0.1 and 1 g, they were reduced to 36% and 29% for the 0.1 g addition and 15% and 12% l QEs for the 1 g addition. More interestingly, tunable color appearances of the deposits prepared by the EPD process were achieved, from yellow green to blue, by varying the addition amount of the SnO(2), enabling it as an alternative technique instead of altering the voltage and depositing time for the color appearance controllability.