Exploration of zinc borophosphate glasses as dispersion media for SiAlON phosphors

Ca‐α‐SiAlON:Eu 2+ oxynitride phosphors are typical luminescent materials with high thermal tolerances. A series of zinc borophosphate glass samples (ZnO–B 2 O 3 –P 2 O 5 ) were prepared to investigate their ability to disperse Ca‐α‐SiAlON:Eu 2+ phosphor powders and to obtain phosphor‐in‐glass (PiG). PiG was prepared with SiAlON and zinc borophosphate glass through a melting process, and seven types of PiGs were successfully obtained without obvious degradation of SiAlON. In particular, PiGs prepared from 30ZnO–40B 2 O 3 –30P 2 O 5 and 60ZnO–30B 2 O 3 –10P 2 O 5 (mol%) glasses showed the highest quantum efficiency (QE). The glass structures of the mother glasses were investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and Raman spectroscopy; it was important to reduce the Q 0 species of PO 4 units and 4‐coordinate boron for a high QE. From the X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, it was established that ZnAl 2 O 4 was formed around the SiAlON powders in PiG composed of the 60ZnO–30B 2 O 3 –10P 2 O 5 (mol%) glass.