Tb
3þ
/Eu
3þ
:YF
3
nanophase embedded glass ceramics: Structural
characterization, tunable luminescence and temperature sensing
behavior
Daqin Chen
a
,
*
, Zhongyi Wang
a
, Yang Zhou
a
, Ping Huang
b
,
*
, Zhenguo Ji
a
,
*
a
College of Materials & Environmental Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, PR China
b
State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on The Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002,
PR China
article info
Article history:
Received 10 May 2015
Received in revised form
1 June 2015
Accepted 2 June 2015
Available online 10 June 2015
Keywords:
Glass ceramics
Nanocrystals
Luminescence
Rare earth ions
Optical temperature sensor
abstract
Tb
3þ
/Eu
3þ
co-doped transparent bulk glass ceramics containing orthorhombic
b
-YF
3
nanocrystals were
successfully synthesized by melt-quenching and subsequent heating. The partition of the active centers
into the YF
3
crystalline lattice was confirmed by elemental mapping in the scanning transmission
electron microscope, emission spectra and decay curves. As a consequence, Tb
3þ
/ Eu
3þ
energy transfer
was demonstrated to be more efficient in the glass ceramic than in the precursor glass, which resulted in
color tunable luminescence by simply modifying Eu
3þ
content and induced the linearly temperature-
dependent fluorescence intensity ratio between the Tb
3þ
:
5
D
4
/
7
F
5
transition and the Eu
3þ
:
5
D
0
/
7
F
4
one in the Tb
3þ
/Eu
3þ
co-doped glass ceramic. It is expected that the investigated glass ceramic
might be a promising candidate for solid-state lighting as well as optical temperature sensor.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Rare earth (RE
3þ
) ions doped optical materials have attracted
great attentions for their promising applications in laser, solid-state
lighting, optical telecommunication, sensor, biolabel and solar cells
etc [1e8]. In order to achieve desirable optical performance, the
host materials, where RE
3þ
ions reside, should be appropriately
selected because the radiative/nonradiative transitions as well as
energy transfer of RE
3þ
ions are highly dependent on the envi-
ronment surrounding them [9e12]. So far, transparent inorganic
materials, such as single crystal and transparent ceramics, have
been widely used as the host for RE
3þ
ions owing to their suitable
crystalline environment and high ability to transmit light [13,14].
Unfortunately, technical challenges, including complicated and
time-consuming procedures to avoid porosity, limited composi-
tions, segregation of doping agents, etc, remain to produce these
transparent materials [15].
In fact, glass-ceramic (GC) technology can be used to avoid these
obstacles of both single crystals and transparent ceramics. GCs are a
kind of composite materials consisting of both crystalline and
glassy phases, which are fabricated by a routine melt-quenching
way followed by subsequent glass crystallization treatment
[16e24]. High transparency can be realized by controlling the size
of the precipitated nanocrystals (NCs) smaller than the visible light
wavelength or matching the refractive indexes between NCs and
glassy hosts [25]. One of key factors for the efficient luminescence
of GC is the preferential partition of the optically active centers into
the precipitated crystalline phase. In this case, this kind of com-
posites may combine the favorable properties from both crystals
and glasses, i.e., special crystal field environments for optically
active dopants and high mechanical, chemical stabilities as well as
easy-fabrication.
In the present work, we report the structural characterization,
energy transfer (ET), tunable luminescence and temperature
sensing behavior of Tb
3þ
/Eu
3þ
co-doped GCs containing ortho-
rhombic YF
3
NCs. The selection of Tb
3þ
and Eu
3þ
as activators has
recently received considerable interests for possible applications in
white light emitting diodes (WLEDs) and temperature sensors,
owing to their tunable luminescence with the help of energy
transfer from Tb
3þ
to Eu
3þ
[26e30]. As for as we known, it is the
* Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: dqchen@hdu.edu.cn (D. Chen), phuang@fjirsm.ac.cn
(P. Huang), jizg@hdu.edu.cn (Z. Ji).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Alloys and Compounds
journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jalcom
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.06.030
0925-8388/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Journal of Alloys and Compounds 646 (2015) 339e344