Giant and reversible photoluminescence modulation based on in situ electric-field-controlled antiferroelectric–ferroelectric phase transition

Abstract

The electric-field-controlled (E-controlled) photoluminescence (PL) effect in inorganic materials has aroused great interest because of its potential applications in display, optical communication, and data storage. However, current ferroelectric-type PL materials...

Phase Stability and Dual-Mode Photoluminescence Modulation in Er-Doped Lead Zirconate Titanate Antiferroelectrics

“…39−41 For the AFE PLZT-Er ceramics, the crystal structure undergoes an E-induced phase transition from the AFE O Pbam phase to the FE R R3c phase, where the structural asymmetry of the latter lowers the crystal field symmetry of the host and results in the enhancement of the green emission intensity. 9,42,43 In contrast, the red emission process is almost unchanged in all cases because it is little affected by Ω 2 . 39 Moreover, as shown in Figure 5d,h, the PL enhancement under E is nonlinear in the dual modes.…”

“…In the dual modes (both the UCPL and DCPL ones), the PL intensities of the green emission bands are gradually enhanced under increasing E . According to the Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory, the green emission process is dominated by the J–O intensity parameter Ω 2 , which is hypersensitive to the crystal field symmetry around the Er 3+ ions (i.e., the symmetry of the PLZT matrix). − For the AFE PLZT-Er ceramics, the crystal structure undergoes an E -induced phase transition from the AFE O Pbam phase to the FE R R 3 c phase, where the structural asymmetry of the latter lowers the crystal field symmetry of the host and results in the enhancement of the green emission intensity. ,, In contrast, the red emission process is almost unchanged in all cases because it is little affected by Ω 2 …”

“…22 The shifting here suggests that the Er 3+ ions may replace Pb 2+ /La 3+ at the A-site when the Er 3+ content is low, which is consistent with previous PLZT-0.5Er results. 9 Yet, the Er 3+ ions begin to replace Zr 4+ and Ti 4+ at the B-site once their content continues to increase, leading to a decrease in the lattice parameters. 23,24 The Rietveld refinement of the XRD patterns summarized in Table 1 evidences this tendency (the detailed refinement patterns can be found in Figure S1 in the Supporting Information).…”

“…Recently, a new type of E -controlled PL modulation was proposed in Er 3+ -doped Pb 0.96 La 0.04 Zr 0.9 Ti 0.1 O 3 (PLZT-Er) antiferroelectric (AFE) ceramics, where an alternate E of 80 kV cm –1 reversibly triggered ∼30% upconversion PL (UCPL) changes . Such a phenomenon is attributed to the E -induced AFE–FE phase transition and the coinciding crystal symmetry variation.…”

“…6 Recently, a new type of E-controlled PL modulation was proposed in Er 3+ -doped Pb 0.96 La 0.04 Zr 0.9 Ti 0.1 O 3 (PLZT-Er) antiferroelectric (AFE) ceramics, where an alternate E of 80 kV cm −1 reversibly triggered ∼30% upconversion PL (UCPL) changes. 9 Such a phenomenon is attributed to the E-induced AFE−FE phase transition and the coinciding crystal symmetry variation. Moreover, the AFE-type PLZT-Er ceramic exhibits a double hysteresis loop of PL versus external E with two distinguishable PL states, similar to its double-loop-like AFE polarization curve.…”