Polarization-induced photoluminescence variation in Pr3+- doped (Ba, Ca)(Ti, Sn)O3 ferroelectric ceramics

The development of multifunctional optical materials can meet the huge demands of modern optics. Generally, it is difficult to achieve multiple optical properties in one material. In this work, we choose ferroelectric (Ba, Ca)(Ti, Sn)O3 ceramics as the hosts, which are doped with rare earth ion Pr3+. The integration of photoluminescence, ferroelectricity, and piezoelectricity is realized in the Pr3+-doped (Ba, Ca)(Ti, Sn)O3 ferroelectric ceramics. The Pr-BCTS ceramics show excellent piezoelectric properties (Pr-BCTS-I: d33 = 210 pC/N; Pr-BCTS-II: d33 = 350 pC/N). Under 449 nm light excitation, all samples show strong orange-red emission centered at 603 nm, 617 nm, and 643 nm. Photoluminescence performance of the Pr-BCTS-I ceramics with orthogonal and tetragonal phase structure increases after polarization treatment, while that of the Pr-BCTS-II ceramics with rhombohedral and tetragonal phase structure after polarization treatment declines. The mechanism of luminescence modulation and polarization processing is discussed. Current research can provide a feasible example to achieve photoluminescence tunability in a material.