Enhancement of photoluminescence in white light emitting glasses by localized surface plasmons of Ag and Au nanoparticles

Here we report a white light emitting glass system, photoluminescence (PL) intensity of which, can be enhanced and tuned by thermal treatment. Ag and Au metal nanoparticles (NPs) are generated into a Dy3+ doped glass by in situ thermochemical reduction. Ag and Au NPs start to grow with heat treatment. Absorption spectra show the characteristic surface plasmon resonance bands for respective nanometals. When excited at 447 nm, the glasses exhibit visible white emission. 4 to 6 times enhancement in PL intensity has been achieved as the combined effect of the metal NPs and matrix crystallization.