Fast and intense green emission of Tb(3+) in borosilicate glass modified by Cu(.).

Fanshu Xia,Xinxi Li,Yiqun Wang,Guorong Chen,Siyuan Liu,Yang Wang,Jiayi Mao

doi:10.1038/srep15387

Fanshu Xia, Xinxi Li + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15387

Copy DOI

Abstract

We present photoluminescence properties of Tb3+ doped borosilicate glasses modified by Cu+. Around 5-time enhanced emission at 541 nm due to the superposed emission of Tb3+ and Cu+ is observed under the deep UV excitation. Excitation spectra demonstrate a greatly increased absorption of Tb3+ ions in the deep UV region towards the Cu+ excitation band, while the shortened Cu+ emission lifetime of glasses in association with presence of Tb3+ ions implies an energy transfer process from Cu+ to Tb3+ ions. Meanwhile, the Tb3+ emission lifetime is significantly shortened from the conventional millisecond level (~4 ms) to the microsecond regime up to around 90 μs. This most likely starts with the role of Cu+ as a co-activator by initiating the d-f orbital hybridization process via an interaction with Tb3+, thus relaxing the spin forbidden transition of Tb3+ ions to the partially allowed one. Moreover, combination of emissions from Cu+ and Tb3+ ions generates a composite green emission with adjustable CIE (Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage) chromaticity coordinates achievable by co-doping Cu+/Tb3+ in the different ratio and/or altering the excitation wavelength from deep UV to near UV region.

Highlights

We present photoluminescence properties of Tb3+ doped borosilicate glasses modified by Cu+
There have been frequent reports on photoluminescence (PL) properties of Tb3+ ions doped in various hosts among which oxide glasses possess high transparency over the ultraviolet (UV) and visible region, high chemical stability and high RE ions solubility so that they have received a lot of interest as perfect host materials to explore the optimum PL properties of Tb3+ ions[2,3,4,5]
Majority of investigations in this regard have focused on enhancement of the Tb3+ green emission, for example, by the enhanced energy transfer (ET) from co-doped Gd3+, Ce3+ and Dy3+ ions to Tb3+ emission centers through a non-radiative energy transfer and a self-sensitizing effect of Tb3+ ions[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]

Summary

Introduction

We present photoluminescence properties of Tb3+ doped borosilicate glasses modified by Cu+. The Tb3+ emission lifetime is significantly shortened from the conventional millisecond level (~4 ms) to the microsecond regime up to around 90 μs This most likely starts with the role of Cu+ as a co-activator by initiating the d-f orbital hybridization process via an interaction with Tb3+, relaxing the spin forbidden transition of Tb3+ ions to the partially allowed one. Combination of emissions from Cu+ and Tb3+ ions generates a composite green emission with adjustable CIE (Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage) chromaticity coordinates achievable by co-doping Cu+/Tb3+ in the different ratio and/or altering the excitation wavelength from deep UV to near UV region. The Tb3+ doped borosilicate glasses are modified by introducing Cu+ as a co-activator with the aim of shortening the Tb3+ emission lifetime from the millisecond level to the microsecond regime. Emissions from Cu+ and Tb3+ ions cover the blue and green lights, it is believed possible to obtain the composite green emission with the adjustable CIE chromaticity coordinates by co-doping Cu+/Tb3+ in the proper ratio to meet requirements of different applications

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion