Rare-earth doped colour tuneable up-conversion ZBLAN phosphor for enhancing photocatalysis

Rare-earth doped ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF (ZBLAN) fluoride glasses have been successfully synthesized showing outstanding UV-VIS up-conversion luminescence of Er3+ and Tm3+, sensitized by Yb3+ ions, under near-infrared excitation at 980 nm. The ratio between blue, green and red up-conversion emission bands can be adjusted by varying the pump power density of the incident infrared radiation, resulting in a controlled tuneability of the overall emitting colour from greenish to yellowish. Additionally, the observed high energy UV intense up-conversion emissions are suitable to enhance photocatalytic activity of main water-splitting semiconductor electrodes (such as TiO2) used in sustainable production of hydrogen. Photocatalysis and photolysis degradation of methylene blue in water under sun-like irradiation using benchmark photocatalyst (TiO2 Degussa P25) have been boosted by 20% and by a factor of 2.5 respectively, due to the enhancement of UV radiation that reaches the TiO2 particles by the addition of ZBLAN powder into a slurry-type photo-reactor. Hence, up-conversion ZBLAN phosphors contribute to demonstrate the possibility of transforming the incoming infrared radiation into the UV region needed to bridge the gap of photocatalytic semiconductors. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.