A novel double perovskite oxide Sm2CoFeO6 phosphor for orange LEDs: structural, magnetic and luminescence properties

Double perovskite Sm2CoFeO6 (SCFO) compound has been synthesized by the conventional solid-state reaction route for the first time. The Rietveld refinement has been carried out using the X-ray diffraction data; it confirms the single-phase formation of orthorhombic structure with the Pnma space group. UV-DRS results show that SCFO was observed in semiconducting behavior. Spin–phonon coupling of SCFO was observed from Raman spectroscopy investigation. The Raman analysis and group theory confirms that the IR and Raman active modes of SCFO. The amount of Sm, Co, Fe and O elements in the SCFO compound was examined by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) with the assistance of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis. The photoluminescence excitation and emission spectra of SCFO were examined. The results show that the phosphor is excited in the region from 320 to 500 nm, and it emits orange at 607 nm, due to the resultant of 4G5/2 → 6H7/2 transitions. The SCFO compound exhibited ferromagnetic behavior, which is confirmed by VSM analysis. The obtained results demonstrated that SCFO double perovskite is extensive for application of spintronic devices and LED’s.