Investigation of Upconversion, downshifting and quantum –cutting behavior of Eu3+, Yb3+, Bi3+ co-doped LaNbO4 phosphor as a spectral conversion material

Abstract

This work presents the spectral conversion characteristics [upconversion (UC), downshifting (DS) and quantum–cutting (QC) optical processes] of Eu3+, Yb3+ and Bi3+ co-doped LaNbO4 (LBO) phosphor samples synthesized by solid state reaction technique. The crystal structure and the pure phase formation have been confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. The surface morphology and particle size are studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The rarely observed intense red UC emission from Eu3+ ion has been successfully obtained in Eu3+/Yb3+ co-doped LaNbO4 phosphor (on excitation with 980 nm) by optimizing the concentrations of Eu3+ and Yb3+ ions. The downshifting (DS) behavior has been studied by photoluminescence (PL) measurements on excitation with 265 nm wavelength from a Xe lamp source. A broad blue emission in the region 300–550 nm with its maximum ∼415 nm due to charge transfer band (CTB) of the host and large number of sharp peaks due to f-f transitions of Eu3+ ion have been observed. The energy transfer has been observed from (NbO4)3− to Eu3+ ion and the fluorescence emission has been optimized by varying the concentration of Eu3+ ion. An intense red emission has also been observed corresponding to 5D0 → 7F2 transition of Eu3+ ion at 611 nm in LBO: 0.09Eu3+ phosphor on excitation with 394 nm. The luminescence properties of Eu3+ ion are enhanced further through the sensitization effect of Bi3+ ion. The near infra-red (NIR) quantum cutting (QC) behavior due to Yb3+ ion has been monitored on excitation with 265 as well as 394 nm. The NIR QC is observed due to 2F5/2 → 2F7/2 transition of Yb3+ ion via co-operative energy transfer (CET) process from (NbO4)3− as well as Eu3+ ions to Yb3+ ion. This multimodal behavior (UC, DS and QC) makes this a promising phosphor material for multi-purpose spectral converter.