Lighting market is a widespread distribution mass market undergoing radical transformation faced with new environmental restrictions. It fits into an environmental protection approach with a European will to reduce by 20% its energy consumption by 2020. Phosphors play a key role on performances of lighting devices where, combined with LEDs (blue or UV) or plasma (Xe-Ne) excitations, they provide visible light. In this work, we have focused on the generation of white light. In order to obtain a color closest to ideal white and meeting with the specifications of domestic lighting, it is necessary to improve the performances of traditional phosphors. Two aluminates have been investigated: Ce3+ doped Y3Al5O12 (YAG :Ce) and Eu2+ doped BaMgAl10O17 (BAM :Eu). On the one hand, innovation is based on unconventional synthesis methods allowing the preparation of nanostrutured phosphors (solvothermal and microwave induced solution combustion syntheses respectively) and on the other hand on their shaping (composite coatings « phosphors/polymer »). Structural and morphological features have been studied by means of several tools (XRD, IR, Mössbauer, magnetization, SEM, TEM,…). Finally, the optical properties of phosphors recorded upon blue, UV and/or VUV excitations have evidenced that they are suitable for applications in new lighting devices: their combination with other phosphors (red for YAG:Ce; red and green for BAM:Eu) in appropriate proportions allows producing white light with the required specifications.
