The Pursuit of Novel Phosphor Hosts for the Next Generation of Solid State Lighting

The development of novel rare-earth phosphor hosts necessary for the next generation of solid-state lighting requires a unique approach to materials discovery.  Researchers often rely on chemical substitution of known compounds or searching phase-space to identify new materials; however, the result is often the formation of known structure-types and incremental advances in phosphor technology.  Recently, our work showed a hybrid approach of computation and experiment is an ideal alternative for novel phosphor design.  By calculating the Debye temperature and band-gap of potential host compounds using Density Functional Theory, high-efficiency materials can be screened a priori ensuring the only best materials are experimentally explored.  Following this methodology, our research has developed a number of materials ranging from borates to nitrides with high efficiency and thermal stability at elevated temperatures.  Moreover, the complementary use of computation and synthesis provides the fundamental understanding of the composition, structure, and property relationship necessary for the continued advanced optical materials.