Enhancing the temperature sensitivity of Cr3+ emissions by modification of the host's composition for fluorescence thermometry applications

Abstract

The fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) technique is widely adopted in thermometric phosphor materials, but the improvement of relative sensitivity is normally limited by the fixed energy gap between two thermally-coupled emitting levels of luminescent ions. Herein, LnAl₃(BO₃)₄:Cr³⁺ (LnAB:Cr³⁺, Ln = Gd, Y, Lu) phosphors are found to simultaneously show ⁴T₂ and ²E emissions of Cr³⁺, and their FIR is sensitive to temperature and suitable for fluorescence thermometric applications. Moreover, the energy gap between the ⁴T₂ and ²E levels of Cr³⁺ is tunable and the relative sensitivity can be greatly improved by modifying the host's composition. Structural analysis and spectroscopic data confirm that the enhanced crystal-field of the Cr³⁺/Al³⁺ sites caused by incorporating smaller Ln³⁺ ions into the host contributes to the improvement of relative sensitivity. This work would provide new insights into the development of novel FIR thermometric materials with high-sensitivity.