We report on the conversion of near-ultraviolet radiation of 250-350 nm into near-infrared emission of 970-1100 nm in Yb 3+ -doped transparent glass ceramics containing Ba 2 TiSi 2 O 8 nanocrystals due to the energy transfer from the silicon-oxygen-related defects to Yb 3+ ions. Efficient Yb 3+ emission ͑ 2 F 5/2 → 2 F 7/2 ͒ was detected under the excitation of defects absorption at 314 nm. The occurrence of energy transfer is proven by both steady state and time-resolved emission spectra, respectively, at 15 K. The Yb 2 O 3 concentration dependent energy transfer efficiency has also been evaluated, and the maximum value is 65% for 8 mol % Yb 2 O 3 doped glass ceramic. These materials are promising for the enhancement of photovoltaic conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells via spectra modification. © 2008 American Institute of Physics. ͓DOI: 10.1063/1.3021086͔In the past decades, luminescent materials doped with rare earth ions and/or transition metal ions found great applicability in optical telecommunications, mercury-free fluorescent lamps, and lighting lasers.1-5 Recently, they have also been applied for the photovoltaic applications to improve solar cell efficiency by better exploitation of the solar spectrum. The down-conversion luminescence process, which converts the high energy part of the solar spectrum into the near-infrared wavelength region that can be efficiently absorbed by the solar cell, has been reported in rare earth codoped systems such as Tb 3+ 6-9 On the other hand, up-conversion luminescence process has also been investigated to access the low energy part of the solar spectrum since only photons with energy higher than the silicon band gap can be absorbed by the solar cell directly. 10,11 In addition, photoluminescence is also an effective method to improve the solar cell efficiency. This process can reduce the loss originated from imperfect collection by shifting the high energy photons to a low energy range where the solar cell has a higher spectral response.
12To improve the solar cell efficiency, the optimum spectral response we expect is a broad absorption band in the near-ultraviolet region, where the solar cells show poor response, and an emission in the near-infrared region slightly shorter than 1100 nm, where the silicon solar cells exhibit their greatest spectral response. 12,13 It was reported that the glass ceramics containing Ba 2 TiSi 2 O 8 nanocrystals, which has been widely investigated due to its large second-order optical nonlinearity, also exhibits a visible green emission corresponding to a broad excitation band in the nearultraviolet region. The origin of the visible emission is suggested due to the oxygen-deficient defects in the TiO 5 octahedra or the SiO 4 units. [14][15][16] Our present experimental results indicate that the green emission is due to the existence of silicon-oxygen-related defects in the SiO 4 units, yet the introduction of TiO 2 will greatly enhance the emission intensity. In this letter, we demonstrated efficient infrared emission of Yb 3+ ...