Tunable luminescence in co-doped Zn3Al2Ge2O10:Cr3+ by controlling crystal field splitting and nephelauxetic effect

Designing high thermally stable deep red phosphors based on low thermal expansion coefficients for optical applications

Mn4+-activated oxide phosphors with low cost and unique luminescent properties have been considered as a promising candidate for various optical applications, while the search for high thermal stable red-emitting phosphors is still a huge challenge. In our work, we find and unveil the relationship between luminescence thermal quenching behavior and thermal expansion coefficients (α/10-6 K-1) based on double-perovskite niobate phosphors Ca2LnNbO6:Mn4+ (Ln3+ = Y3+, Gd3+, La3+, or Lu3+). It can be concluded that the phosphors with low thermal expansion coefficients contribute to high thermal stability. Subsequently, Ca2LuNbO6:Mn4+ accomplishes accurate temperature testing and high-CRI white light-emitting diodes. Thus, a thermal expansion coefficient strategy is a new guide to select the appropriate substrate with high thermal stability for an Mn4+-activated emitter.

UV/blue/green converted efficient red-NIR photoluminescence in Cr incorporated MgAl2O4nanocrystals: Site selective emission tailored through cation inversion and intrinsic defects

The UV/Visible activated near-infrared (NIR) phosphors have many applications in solid state lighting, night vision devices and bio-imaging. The early research reported the red-NIR emitting phosphors doped with Cr3+centers upon visible light excitation. Here, in this work the intense red-NIR emission and color tuning is achieved for broad excitation range (UV/blue/green) through Cr dopant induced defect centers and cation inversionWe present the infuence of Cr dopant induced defect centers and cation inversion in Mg1-xCrxAl2O4(x= 0.5, 1, 3, 5 and 10 mol%) nanocrystals. The Cr3+doped MgAl2O4nanocrystals were synthesized by combustion method through stoichiometric substitution of Mg by Cr, while most of the Cr3+ions occupied the octahedral sites of spinel host with the formation of antisite defects, Cr3+clusters, magnesium and oxygen vacancies. These defect centers were probed through Rietveld refinement, PL, X-ray photoelectron and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra analyses. At UV excitation, the intrinsic defects played an interesting role in exhibiting the blue-violet emission attributed to host lattice defects and red-NIR emission attributed to strong/weak ligand field octahedral Cr3+sites, via charge transfer to Cr3+ions. The PL spectra evinced the enhanced red-NIR emission intensity upon 266 nm excitation than upon blue and green light excitation. Further, the weak ligand field site emission is found to be dominating with increase in doping concentration. Thus, Cr doped MgAl2O4nanocrystals showed their potency of exhibiting the intense red-NIR emission and color tuning (from red purple to bluish purple and then to red color) upon UV/blue/green excitation.

Enhanced Photoluminescence of Gd3Al4GaO12: Cr3+ by Energy Transfers from Co-Doped Dy3

LEDs for plant lighting have attracted wide attention and phosphors with good stability and deep-red emission are urgently needed. Novel Cr3+ and Dy3+ co-doped Gd3Al4GaO12 garnet (GAGG) phosphors were successfully prepared through a conventional solid-state reaction. Using blue LEDs, a broadband deep-red emission at 650−850 nm was obtained due to the Cr3+ 4T2 → 4A2 transition. When the Cr3+ concentration was fixed to 0.1 mol, the crystal structure did not change with an increase in the Dy3+ doping concentration. The luminous intensity of the optimized GAGG:0.1Cr3+, 0.01Dy3+ was 1.4 times that of the single-doped GAGG:0.1Cr3+. Due to the energy transfer from Dy3+ to Cr3+, the internal quantum efficiency reached 86.7%. The energy transfer from Dy3+ to Cr3+ can be demonstrated through luminescence spectra and fluorescence decay. The excellent properties of the synthesized phosphor indicate promising applications in the agricultural industry.

Photoluminescence and optical temperature measurement of Mn4+/Er3+ co-activated double perovskite phosphor through site-advantageous occupation

Because traditional methods based on thermal coupling energy level temperature measurement have large errors, a new temperature sensing strategy is proposed to attain strong sensitivity and excellent signal resolution ability. The rare-earth and also transition metal ions with poles apart thermal quenching channels are used as dual emission centers to find a suitable host to achieve high-efficiency dual-mode emission. In this work, a string of phosphors with NaLaMgWO₆ (NLMW) as the host, the single-doped and double-doped Mn⁴⁺ and Er³⁺ phosphors were adopted by the traditional high temperature solid-state reaction method. The crystallographic structure of the phosphor was analyzed by X-ray power diffraction and Rietveld refinement methods, and the results showed that a pure double perovskite phosphor with a monoclinic structure was successfully prepared. The photoluminescence excitation and emission spectrum properties, CIE chromaticity coordinates and photoluminescence spectra at different temperatures are detailed studied. Excited by ultraviolet light (300 nm), corresponding to the ⁴A₂→⁴T₁ transition of Mn⁴⁺ and the charge transfer from O^2- to W⁶⁺ of Er³⁺. There is no energy transfer between Mn⁴⁺ and Er³⁺. NLMW:Mn⁴⁺/Er³⁺ phosphors were especially sensitive to temperature changes within the scope of 303 K to 523 K. As the temperature increases, the fluorescence intensity of Mn⁴⁺ is thermally quenched faster than Er³⁺. The luminescent intensity ratio of Er³⁺ thermal coupling level and the FIR of Er³⁺/Mn⁴⁺ are used to study the temperature performance. The results show that the maximum relative sensitivity of FIR up to 1.31% K^-1, which is higher than the maximum temperature sensitivity based on the thermal coupling energy level, and which is beyond most of the non-contact temperature measurement materials previously reported, confirming that NLMW:Mn⁴⁺/Er³⁺ phosphors have application potential in non-contact temperature measurement.

A novel Cr3+-doped Lu2CaMg2Si3O12 garnet phosphor with broadband emission for near-infrared applications

Near-infrared (NIR) phosphor-converted light emitting diode (pc-LED) light sources have broad application prospects in environmental science, biomedical and plant growth fields. However, NIR phosphors still suffer from narrowband emission and low thermal stability. Here, we prepared a novel Lu2CaMg2-xSi3O12:xCr3+ (LCMS:xCr3+, x = 0.005-0.06) phosphor with broadband emission by a high-temperature solid state reaction. Under excitation at 450 nm, the emission spectrum of the LCMS:0.05Cr3+ phosphor shows a broadband emission in the range of 650-1000 nm with a large full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 125 nm and an R-line emission of 692 nm. In addition, the LCMS:0.05Cr3+ phosphor has good thermal stability and can maintain 70% emission intensity at 150 °C relative to that at room temperature. The LCMS:0.05Cr3+ phosphor exhibits a high internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of ∼76%. Using this phosphor, a NIR pc-LED with photoelectric efficiencies of 14.8% at 100 mA and 6.0% at 320 mA and NIR output powers of 59.5 mW at 100 mA and 181.0 mW at 320 mA was obtained. The broadband LCMS:0.05Cr3+ phosphor with a NIR emission peaked at 750 nm can serve as a light source for plant cultivation and has superior application prospects in the agriculture field.

On the choice of proper average lifetime formula for an ensemble of emitters showing non-single exponential photoluminescence decay

In this paper, we investigate non-single exponential photoluminescence decays in various disordered condensed-matter systems. For such materials, two formulas for the average lifetime of system's excited state are commonly used in the analysis of experimental data. In many cases, the choice of formula is arbitrary and lacks a clear physical justification. For this reason, our main goal is to show that the choice of correct mathematical formula should be based on the interpretation of measured photoluminescence decay curve. It is shown that depending on the investigated system, after appropriate normalization, photoluminescence decay curve can represent either a survival probability function or a probability density function of lifetime and for this reason two different formulas for the average lifetime are required. It is also shown that, depending on luminescence quantum yield, some information on the probability density function of lifetime can be lost in the process of measurement, which results in underestimated values of average lifetime. Finally, we provide an interpretation of total decay rate distributions which are frequently obtained by phenomenological modeling of non-single exponential photoluminescence decays.