Enhanced upconversion fluorescence of Er3+:ZrO2 nanocrystals induced by phase transformation

Abstract

In this letter, we demonstrate for the first time a growth of monoclinic phase ZrO2 nanocrytals based on a sol-gel method, compared to the ordinary sol-gel procedure, our method decreases the synthesized temperature from ∼1000 °C to ∼800 °C. In addition, it is found that Er3+ in monoclinic phase ZrO2 nanocrystals have greatly enhanced upconversion emissions under infrared LD excitation due to its lower environmental symmetry

Structural and Optical Properties of Tunable Warm‐White Light‐Emitting ZrO2:Dy3+–Eu3+ Nanocrystals

“…The techniques employed to study the optical properties of lanthanide ion‐doped ZrO 2 materials include cathodoluminescence, photoluminescence, and thermoluminescence spectroscopies. The reported results of the optical studies include the photoluminescence of sol–gel‐derived ZrO 2 nanophosphors doped with Pr 3+ , Eu 3+ , Sm 3+ , Er 3+ , Ce 3+ , and Dy 3+ systems. Few reports have been devoted to the physical understanding of the relationship between the luminescence properties of the dysprosium and europium centers and structural modifications of zirconia, focusing on information about the chemical environment of Dy 3+ and Eu 3+ ions .…”