Optical thermometry based on cooperation of temperature-induced shift of charge transfer band edge and thermal coupling

A novel optical thermometry is put forward, based on the cooperation of temperature-induced red shift of the charge transfer band (CTB) edge of the vanadates and thermal population of the thermally coupled energy levels (TCELs). Particularly, temperature-dependent CTB of Sm3+ (Er3+) doped LuVO4 was investigated from 300 to 480 K. Then, under the excitation of 360 nm at which the excitation efficiency enhances with temperature due to the temperature induced red shift of the CTB edge, temperature-dependent emissions of the TCELs of Sm3+ and Er3+ were investigated. The results indicate that the emission from the upper-level in the TCELs exhibits a dramatic increase, along with the increase of temperature. High relative sensitivity of 4304/T2 was obtained, which is remarkably superior to the previous reported sensors, using the temperature-dependent fluorescence intensity ratio of TCELs. This suggests that the proposed strategy is a promising candidate for highly sensitive optical thermometry.