Vol. 7, No. 8 | 1 Aug 2017 | OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS 2783
Enhancing near infrared persistent luminescence from Cr 3+-activated zinc gallogermanate powders through Ca2+ doping HU XU AND GUANYING CHEN* MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Key Laboratory of Micro-systems and Micro-structures, Ministry of Education, Harbin Institute of Technology, 150001 Harbin, China *
[email protected]
Abstract: Near infrared (NIR) long-persistent luminescence phosphors are promising for applications ranging from night-vision surveillance to in vivo bioimaging. Yet, the luminescence brightness and afterglow period remain insufficient for the reported persistent phosphors with both the activator content optimized and the host material defined. Here, we show that the emission profile of the emerging NIR persistent phosphors of Cr3+-activated spinel zinc gallogermanate (emission at 650–850 nm from the 2E→4A2 transition of Cr3+) can be improved through the incorporation of non-luminescent, divalent calcium (Ca2+) into the host lattice. We found that a slight introduction of 3% Ca2+ ions into the formulated afterglow material was able to enhance its persistent luminescence intensity (recorded after 300s stoppage of the excitation light) by about 15 fold. This was possibly ascribed to the engineering of tetrahedral trapping defects (spinel inversion) surrounding the emitting Cr3+ ions at the octahedral sites and the reduction of luminescence quenching centers in the crystal, enacted by the calcium doping. The simple performance-enhancing route described here has an immediate implication for other visible and NIR persistent phosphors engaged in a plethora of photonic and biomedical applications. © 2017 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (160.2540) Fluorescent and luminescent materials; (300.6550) Spectroscopy, visible; (250.5230) Photoluminescence.
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https://doi.org/10.1364/OME.7.002783 Received 24 Apr 2017; revised 29 May 2017; accepted 2 Jun 2017; published 10 Jul 2017
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