Journal
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
Volume 14, Issue 19, Pages 6974-6980Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c2cp24044k
Keywords
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Funding
- Chinese Academy of Sciences for Key Topics [KJCX2-YW-358]
- NSFC [11004191]
- MOST [2011AA03A407]
- NSF of Fujian Province for Young Scientists [2010J05126, 2011J05145]
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Quantum cutting (QC) of one visible photon into two infrared ones has been reported for the lanthanide ion couple (Tm3+, Yb3+) in a variety of host lattices. The mechanism responsible for QC was assumed to be a cooperative energy transfer (ET) process from Tm3+ to two Yb3+ ions, however, no solid evidence was presented. Herein we report visible-to-infrared QC for (Tm3+, Yb3+) in YPO4 phosphors. The ET process from the excited (1)G(4) level of Tm3+ to Yb3+ was investigated in detail by means of optical spectroscopy. By monitoring the steady-state photoluminescence (PL) and PL decay of the intermediate F-3(4) level of Tm3+ as a function of the Yb3+ concentration, we demonstrated the QC of one incident blue photon into one near-infrared emitting photon at 1004 nm from Yb3+ and simultaneously into one mid-infrared emitting photon at 1791 nm from Tm3+, rather than two emitting photons from Yb3+. It was revealed that such visible-to-infrared QC was induced by phonon-assisted ET instead of cooperative ET as previously reported. This kind of QC phosphors may have potential as solar spectral converters to enhance the external quantum efficiency in multi-junction solar cells based on narrow band-gap semiconductors such as Ge, PbS or In1-xGaxN.
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