Materials (Jul 2020)

Gd<sup>3+</sup>-Doping Effect on Upconversion Emission of NaYF<sub>4</sub>: Yb<sup>3+</sup>, Er<sup>3+</sup>/Tm<sup>3+</sup> Microparticles

  • Aleksandra A. Vidyakina,
  • Ilya E. Kolesnikov,
  • Nikita A. Bogachev,
  • Mikhail Y. Skripkin,
  • Ilya I. Tumkin,
  • Erkki Lähderanta,
  • Andrey S. Mereshchenko

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13153397
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 15
p. 3397

Abstract

Read online

β-NaYF4 microcrystals co-doped with Yb3+, Er3+/Tm3+, and Gd3+ ions were synthesized via a hydrothermal method using rare-earth chlorides as the precursors. The SEM and XRD data show that the doped β-NaYF4 form uniform hexagonal prisms with an approximate size of 600–800 nm. The partial substitution of Y by Gd results in size reduction of microcrystals. Upconversion luminescence spectra of microcrystals upon 980 nm excitation contain characteristic intra-configurational ff bands of Er3+/Tm3+ ions. An addition of Gd3+ ions leads to a significant enhancement of upconversion luminescence intensity with maxima at 5 mol % of dopant.

Keywords