Generation of phosphor particles for photoluminescence applications by spray pyrolysis

Phosphor materials have been used for applications in fluorescence lamps and display devices. Such phosphors have been mostly produced by the conventional solid-state reaction technique. In solid-state reactions, high reaction temperature and long heating time are required to obtain a pure phase of the multi-component particles, and agglomerated particles of irregular shape is unavoidable. Therefore, milling process is necessary in the solid-state technique. These process characteristics decrease the brightness of phosphor particles. Recently, extensive efforts were given in production of phosphors particles by spray pyrolysis in order to have fine size and spherical morphology. In this manuscript, phosphor particles produced by spray pyrolysis for photoluminescence applications were reviewed. Phosphorescence phenomenon is briefly explained with the energy transfer mechanism including the intersystem crossing. In the main context, phosphor materials are categorized into three parts following the color (red, green, and blue) characteristics. As expected, phosphor particles generated by spray pyrolysis have a big advantage in obtaining spherical morphology, compared with the particles from the conventional solid-state processes. Therefore, high packing density and uniformity of films for final display devices are predicted, and it could further help achieving high photoluminescent intensity in final products.