Investigation of energy transfer and concentration quenching of Dy3+ luminescence in Gd(BO2)3 by means of fluorescence dynamics

Abstract In this paper, the photoluminescence (PL) properties of Dy 3+ activated Gd(BO 2 ) 3 phosphors are presented by means of fluorescence dynamics excited by pulsed laser light ( λ  = 266 nm). Energy transfer from Gd 3+ to Dy 3+ and concentration quenching of the Dy 3+ luminescence are studied. From the PL spectra and decay curves the energy transfer from Gd 3+ to Dy 3+ is confirmed. The decay curves of Dy 3+ 4 F 9/2  →  6 H 13/2 transition exhibiting build-up and decay process confirm the energy transfer between Gd 3+ to Dy 3+ . The rise time becomes shorter as the Dy 3+ concentration increases. The theoretical luminescence decay curves of (Gd 1− x Dy x ) (BO 2 ) 3 samples agree well with the experimental observations. The concentration quenching of the Dy 3+ ion emission can be ascribed to resonant cross-relaxation. The interaction between the Dy 3+ ions is probably of the electric dipole–dipole type through fitting the data with Inokuti–Hirayama (I–H) model. The energy transfer parameters and critical distance for the transfer processes are given.