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Effect of homogeneous coating on K+-doped NaGdF4:Er3+,Yb3+ upconversion materials

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Abstract

The K+-doped (Na1−xKx)GdF4:Er3+,Yb3+ upconversion materials were successfully synthesized by solvothermal method. The doping of K+ was testified to have great influences on improving upconversion properties as it directly affects the morphology of the material matrix. In addition, by coating the doped material with a homogeneous shell layer, a newly developed core–shell (Na0.9K0.1)GdF4:Er3+,Yb3+@NaGdF4 nanomaterials were produced. Surprisingly, its light emission intensity was 2 times of that for the uncoated material, although the crystal structure and the emission color of the nanoparticles did not change. The upconversion mechanism has also been studied, and the results show that there is a two-photon mechanism of (Na1−x Kx)GdF4:Er3+,Yb3+. The work provides a new strategy for enhancing the luminescence density of upconversion materials by coating a homogeneous shell after doping.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant Number 2652015092].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Materials Utilization of Nonmetallic Minerals and Solid Wastes, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Haisheng Hu, Qun Jiang, Yunfei Li & Meitang Liu

  2. School of Materials Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, No.29 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Haisheng Hu, Qun Jiang, Yunfei Li & Meitang Liu

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  1. Haisheng Hu
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. ML contributed to the conception of the study. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by HH, QJ, and YL. YL and QJ contributed significantly to analysis and manuscript preparation. The first draft of the manuscript was written by HH and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Meitang Liu.

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Hu, H., Jiang, Q., Li, Y. et al. Effect of homogeneous coating on K+-doped NaGdF4:Er3+,Yb3+ upconversion materials. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 596–606 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-07328-w

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