Synthesis and blue to near-infrared quantum cutting of Pr3+/Yb3+ co-doped Li2TeO4 phosphors

Abstract Near-infrared (NIR) quantum cutting luminescent materials Li 2 TeO 4 doped with Pr 3+ and Yb 3+ were synthesized by solid-state reaction method. The dependence of Yb 3+ doping concentration on the visible- and NIR-emissions, decay lifetime, and quantum efficiencies of the phosphors are investigated. Quantum cutting down-conversion involving 647 nm red emission and 960–1050 nm broadband near-infrared emission for each 487 nm blue photon absorbed is realized successfully in the resulting phosphors, of which the process of near-infrared quantum cutting could be expressed as 3 P 0 (Pr 3+ ) →  2 F 5/2 (Yb 3+ ) +  2 F 5/2 (Yb 3+ ). The maximum quantum cutting efficiency approaches up to 166.4% in Li 2 TeO 4 : 0.3 mol%Pr 3+ , 1.8 mol%Yb 3+ sample corresponding to the 66.4% value of energy transfer efficiency.