Generation of Pure Green Up-Conversion Luminescence in Er3+ Doped and Yb3+-Er3+ Co-Doped YVO4 Nanomaterials under 785 and 975 nm Excitation

Abstract

Materials that generate pure, single-color emission are desirable in the development and manufacturing of modern optoelectronic devices. This work shows the possibility of generating pure, green up-conversion luminescence upon the excitation of Er3+-doped nanomaterials with a 785 nm NIR laser. The up-converting inorganic nanoluminophores YVO4: Er3+ and YVO4: Yb3+ and Er3+ were obtained using a hydrothermal method and subsequent calcination. The synthesized vanadate nanomaterials had a tetragonal structure and crystallized in the form of nearly spherical nanoparticles. Up-conversion emission spectra of the nanomaterials were measured using laser light sources with λex = 785 and 975 nm. Importantly, under the influence of the mentioned laser irradiation, the as-prepared samples exhibited bright green up-conversion luminescence that was visible to the naked eye. Depending on the dopant ions used and the selected excitation wavelengths, two (green) or three (green and red) bands originating from erbium ions appeared in the emission spectra. In this way, by changing the UC mechanisms, pure green luminescence of the material can be obtained. The proposed strategy, in combination with various single-doped UC nanomaterials activated with Er3+, might be beneficial for modern optoelectronics, such as light-emitting diodes with a rich color gamut for back-light display applications.

Luminescence Properties and Energy Transfer of Eu3+, Bi3+ Co-Doped LuVO4 Films Modified with Pluronic F-127 Obtained by Sol–Gel

“…Nowadays, phosphor materials with luminescent properties prepared by various techniques are extensively studied because of their great ability to convert UV radiation to the visible spectrum and its multiple applications in different fields, such as integrated photonics [1], optics [2,3], and electronics [4,5]. Most luminescent materials are usually oxides, sulfides, or oxysulfides doped with some transition metal or rare-earth element [6][7][8], but in recent years, some lanthanides known as orthovanadates are currently used as matrices due to their high emission efficiency [9][10][11][12]. Additionally, these materials have unique properties due to the stoichiometric combination of their components and their symmetry with the crystal of the complex oxides; these characteristics increase the luminescent activity in comparison with the simple materials [13][14][15][16][17][18].…”