Precipitation of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped Y5O4F7 nanocrystals in oxyfluoride glass for color display, temperature sensor and laser heater

Precipitation of Y 5 O 4 F 7 nanocrystals in oxyfluoride glass is realized through a conventional melt-quenching process and subsequent heat-treatment. XRD patterns , absorption spectra , HR-TEM images, and EDS mapping results show that Er 3+ ions and Yb 3+ ions co-doped Y 5 O 4 F 7 nanocrystals are formed in glass-ceramics. Upon 980 nm laser excitation, significantly enhanced up-conversion emission from Er 3+ ions are obtained due to the low phonon energy and low symmetry local environment provided by Y 5 O 4 F 7 nanocrystals. Changes in the emitting color and decay curves indicate that the increase of Yb 3+ ions doping concentration leads to highly efficient energy transfer between rare-earth ions. When evaluating the potential application in temperature sensing, the sensitivity decreases from 1.51 % K −1 to 1.21 % K −1 at 300 K with the increase in concentration of Yb 3+ ions. The laser heating effect is observed and the largest temperature increment of 145.2 K is obtained when the irradiation power of laser increases from 100 mW to 900 mW. These results illustrate that the rare-earth ions doped glass-ceramics containing Y 5 O 4 F 7 nanocrystals are promising up-conversion materials in applications such as color display, temperature sensor and laser heater. • Yb 3+ ions promote the formation of rod-like Y 5 O 4 F 7 nanocrystals in oxyfluoride glass matrix. • Glass-ceramics containing Y 5 O 4 F 7 : Er 3+ /Yb 3+ nanocrystals showing wide temperature detection range. • 2.0 mol.% Yb 3+ ions doped glass-ceramic obtains temperature increment of 145.2 K.