GdAlO 3 :1.5%Er 3+ ,8%Yb 3+ phosphors were prepared by calcining the precipitate precursor at different temperatures. Effects of calcination temperature on the phase composition, morphology, light absorption and up-conversion photoluminescence properties of the phosphors were investigated. It was found that the phosphors prepared at a temperature between 1000 and 1400 • C kept perovskite structure. With increasing calcination temperature, the crystallinity of the phosphor improved along with the increased particle size. The absorption at 977 nm increased while the concentration of residual OH − decreased with increasing calcination temperature. Under 980 nm excitation, the intensity of green emission at a wavelength of 546 nm increased nearly linearly with increasing calcination temperature when the calcination temperature of the phosphor was between 1000 and 1300 • C, accompanied by gradually decreased ratio of red-to-green emission. Based on the FT-IR spectra and energy levels of Er 3+ and Yb 3+ , possible reasons causing changes in green emission intensity and the ratio of red-to-green with the calcination temperature of the phosphor were discussed. The nearly linear response of the red-to-green emission ratio of the GdAlO 3 :Er 3+ ,Yb 3+ phosphor to the calcination temperature at which it endured during preparation makes the precipitate precursor GdAlO 3 :Er 3+ ,Yb 3+ to be a promising candidate for upconversion thermal history sensing material. In recent years, frequency up-conversion materials that convert infrared to visible light have attracted much attention for their potential applicability in many fields, such as solid-state lasers, biological fluorescence labels, fiber-optic amplifiers, and photovoltaic devices.
1−4Most of the up-conversion photoluminescence (UCPL) materials that have been extensively studied are rare-earth doped halides, oxyhalides and glasses.1,5−6 Although the conversion efficiency of the fluoridebased UCPL materials has been improved to a considerable level, the application is still greatly restricted because of high production cost and poor chemical stability. Therefore, it is of great significance to seek for new hosts with high-conversion efficiency. It is well established that suitable host material for UCPL should have low intrinsic phonon energy because the phonons (or lattice vibration) of the host can provide non-radiative decay ways to suppress UCPL. 29 It was found that the GdAlO 3 :Er 3+ ,Yb 3+ phosphors prepared by different methods showed unlike morphologies and particle sizes, which led to distinct absorption strengths for 980 nm radiation. Moreover, the concentration of residual CO 3 2− and OH − species in the GdAlO 3 :Er 3+ ,Yb 3+ phosphors prepared by different methods was quite different. Since vibrational frequencies of these species were significantly higher than that of GdAlO 3 host, the existence of these species resulted in multi-phonon non-radiative relaxation of the excited states of Er 3+ ion. Therefore, green UCPL intensity and the z E-mail: sryan@fuda...