Issue 16, 2015

Decrease in particle size and enhancement of upconversion emission through Y3+ ions doping in hexagonal NaLuF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals

Abstract

The upconversion (UC) enhancement with size decrease has been realized through Y3+ ions doping in β-NaLuF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals (NCs) by a solvothermal process. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UC luminescence spectra were used to characterize the resulting samples. With an increase of the Y3+ doping concentration, the NCs size is continuously decreased with no phase transition. Meanwhile, the UC intensity is firstly increased and then it decreases when the Y3+ ions concentration is over 30 mol%. The NCs (β-NaLu0.48Y0.3Yb0.2Er0.02F4) with the optimum Y3+ ions doping concentration (30 mol%) for UC emission have a diameter of about 80 nm. Compared with β-NaLu0.78Yb0.2Er0.02F4 and β-NaY0.78Yb0.2Er0.02F4 prepared under the same conditions, the green UC emission is enhanced by a factor of 1.8 and 16, respectively, for β-NaLu0.48Y0.3Yb0.2Er0.02F4. The variation of the UC intensity with the increasing Y3+ ions concentration is attributed to the changing of the symmetry of the local crystal field induced by Y3+ ions doping, which has been proved by the structural probe Eu3+ ions. For β-NaLu0.78Yb0.2Er0.02F4 and β-NaLu0.48Y0.3Yb0.2Er0.02F4, a three-photon green UC process and a three-photon red UC process occur simultaneously at high pump power density, which can be described as 4G11/2 (Er3+) + 4I15/2 (Er3+) → 2H11/2/4S3/2 (Er3+) + 4I13/2 (Er3+) and 4G11/2 (Er3+) + 2F7/2 (Yb3+) → 4F9/2 (Er3+) + 2F5/2 (Yb3+), respectively.

Graphical abstract: Decrease in particle size and enhancement of upconversion emission through Y3+ ions doping in hexagonal NaLuF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Feb 2015
Accepted
12 Mar 2015
First published
16 Mar 2015

CrystEngComm, 2015,17, 3103-3109

Decrease in particle size and enhancement of upconversion emission through Y3+ ions doping in hexagonal NaLuF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals

G. Xiang, J. Zhang, Z. Hao, X. Zhang, G. Pan, Y. Luo and H. Zhao, CrystEngComm, 2015, 17, 3103 DOI: 10.1039/C5CE00294J

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