Eu3+-doped NaYGeO4: A novel red-emitting phosphors for ultraviolet or blue chips excited white LEDs

Multi-Wavelength Excitable Multicolor Upconversion and Ratiometric Luminescence Thermometry of Yb3+/Er3+ Co-Doped NaYGeO4 Microcrystals

Excitation wavelength controllable lanthanide upconversion allows for real-time manipulation of luminescent color in a composition-fixed material, which has been proven to be conducive to a variety of applications, such as optical anti-counterfeiting and information security. However, current available materials highly rely on the elaborate core-shell structure in order to ensure efficient excitation-dependent energy transfer routes. Herein, multicolor upconversion luminescence in response to both near-infrared I and near-infrared II (NIR-I and NIR-II) excitations is realized in a novel but simple NaYGeO4:Yb3+/Er3+ phosphor. The remarkably enhanced red emission ratio under 1532 nm excitation, compared with that under 980 nm excitation, could be attributed to the Yb3+-mediated cross-relaxation energy transfers. Moreover, multi-wavelength excitable temperature-dependent (295-823 K) upconversion luminescence realizes a ratiometric thermometry relying on the thermally coupled levels (TCLs) of Er3+. Detailed investigations demonstrate that changing excitation wavelength makes little difference for the performances of TCL-based ratiometric thermometry of NaYGeO4:Yb3+/Er3+. These findings gain more insights to manipulate cross-relaxations for excitation controllable upconversion in single activator doped materials and benefit the cognition of the effect of excitation wavelength on ratiometric luminescence thermometry.

A high quantum efficiency plant growth LED by using a deep-red-emitting α-Al2O3:Cr3+ phosphor

Although it has been extensively studied for decades, the α-Al2O3:Cr3+ phosphor has rarely been investigated for horticultural lighting. In this work, for the first time, a prototype of a plant growth light-emitting diode (LED) has been fabricated by coating a deep-red-emitting α-Al2O3:Cr3+ phosphor onto a near-ultraviolet (NUV) chip. The α-Al2O3:Cr3+ phosphor, synthesized by a co-precipitation method and annealed at 1500 °C for 2 h, emits an outstanding narrow peak at 695 nm. The α-Al2O3:0.6%Cr3+ phosphor shows a high activation energy of 0.29 eV, a long lifetime of 3.4 ms, and a superior color purity of 100%. The chromatic coordinates and the QE value of the red LED obtained by coating an α-Al2O3:0.6%Cr3+ phosphor on a NUV chip are (x = 0.5650, y = 0.2429) and 87.1%, respectively.