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Upconversion improvement in KLaF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanoparticles by doping Al3+ ions

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Abstract

Rare-earth ion-doped upconversion (UC) materials show great potential applications in optical and optoelectronic devices due to their novel optical properties. In this work, hexagonal KLaF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method, and remarkably enhanced upconversion luminescence in green and red emission bands in KLaF4:Yb3+/Er3+ NPs has been achieved by doping Al3+ ions under 980 nm excitation. Compared to the aluminum-free KLaF4:Yb3+/Er3+ NPs sample, the UC fluorescence intensities of the green and red emissions of NPs doped with 10 at.% Al3+ ions were significantly enhanced by 5.9 and 7.3 times, respectively. Longer lifetimes of the doped samples were observed for the 4S3/2 state and 4F9/2 state. The underlying reason for the UC enhancement by doping Al3+ ions was mainly ascribed to distortion of the local symmetry around Er3+ ions and adsorption reduction of organic ligands on the surface of NPs. In addition, the influence of doping Al3+ ions on the structure and morphology of the NPs samples was also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Nature Sciences Funding of China (no. 61440009), and Fujian Provincial National Nature Sciences, China (no. 2016J01298).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Information Engineering, and Institute of Micro-Nano Devices and Solar Cells, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, People’s Republic of China

    Haifang Zhou, Xiechun Wang, Yunfeng Lai, Shuying Cheng, Qiao Zheng & Jinlin Yu

  2. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou, Jiangsu, 213164, People’s Republic of China

    Haifang Zhou

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  1. Haifang Zhou
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Correspondence to Haifang Zhou.

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Zhou, H., Wang, X., Lai, Y. et al. Upconversion improvement in KLaF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanoparticles by doping Al3+ ions. Appl. Phys. A 123, 645 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-017-1260-3

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