LAUSR

Abstract Rare earth-doped phosphors have great potential in various applications. Given the cost issue confronting the rare earth ions, the doping of transition metal ions provides a cost-effective approach for realizing the light emitting. In this paper, using CdAl2O4 as the host, red emission through Fe3+ ions has been demonstrated. CdAl2O4:Fe3+ shows the strong red emission at around 700 nm, attributing to the 4T1(4G) to 6A1(6S) transitions of Fe3+ ions. Moreover, the intensity dependence of such a red emission on the Fe3+ doping is quantitatively analyzed, and the optimized doping concentration is 0.015. Band structure calculation indicates that Fe3+ doping can widen the light absorption range of CdAl2O4 host via doping the Fe3+ ions. The efficient luminescence can be elucidated by the synergistic effect of electrons in Fe3+ ions and nanotube-type host lattice. Furthermore, on the basis of these findings, we developed Cr3+-doped red emission phosphors. Moreover, a red LED is successfully fabricated via combination Cr3+-doped CdAl2O4 phosphors with near UV LED ships. The successful realization of red lighting via Fe3+ or Cr3+ ions provides a new perspective for the development of luminescent materials, thereby initiating the non-rare-earth based phosphors for light emitting diodes and displays applications.