Field emission displays(FEDs)offer the potential of achieving comparable or superior levels of performance to the cathode ray tubes(CRTs). However

FEDs must operate at significantly lower excitation voltages(≤5kV)and higher current densities(10~100A/cm

2

)than that of CRTs. Thus the phosphors for FEDs are required to have a high efficiency at low voltages

high resistance saturation

long service time

and equal or better chromaticity than that of CRT phosphors. For full color flat panel displays

vary satisfactory red and green commercial phosphors are being produced by the f

→

f transitions of Tb

3+

and Eu

3+

but suitable blue phosphors are still lacking

because wide band gap materials are required and the eye sensitivity is quite low in the blue spectra region. Sr

2

CeO

4

is an efficient blue phosphor found by combinatorial method and prepared by the decomposition of carbonates

acetates and oxalates. But these methods always were realized at temperatures above 1000℃ for a period as long as 48h. The sol-gel method

because of its apparent advantages of fine homogeneity

high reactivity of starting materials and lower sintering temperature

is a new route to synthesize fine powders. It has attracted more and more attention. The method was widely used to prepare multicomponent oxides

such as superconductors etc. In this paper

Sr

2

CeO

4

phosphors were prepared by a Pechini sol-gel method via inorganic precursors Sr(NO

3

)

2

and Ce(NO

3

)

3

together with organic chelating agent citric acid and cross-linking agent polyethylene glycol(PEG). X-ray diffraction(XRD)

scanning electron microscope(SEM)

and photoluminescence spectra were used to characterize the Sr

2

CeO

4

phosphors. The results of XRD show that the crystallization of Sr

2

CeO

4

begins at about 800℃

completes around 900℃ with a triclinic structure. SEM studies show that the 900℃ annealed samples are well crystallized

with grain size range from 1μm to 5μm. The excitation spectrum of Sr

2

CeO

4

phosphor displays a broad double peaks band with one around 310nm and the other around 340nm. This broad band is due to the charge transfer(CT)band of the Ce

4+

ion. Excited with a radiation of 340nm

a broad emission band is observed with a peak position at 475nm

and the full width at half maximum(FWHM)of 93nm

the band can be assigned to the f

→

t1g transition of Ce

4+

. The emission spectrum of Sr

2

CeO

4

excited with 310nm radiation is similar to that excited with 340nm radiation.