Morphology Manipulation and Upconversion Luminescence Enhancement of β-NaLuF4: Er3+ Hexagonal Microtubes via Sr2+ Doping

Abstract EN

A new and facile strategy to enhance the upconversion luminescence (UCL) emission of NaLuF4: Er3+ microcrystals (MCs) using strontium (Sr) as a dopant has been reported.

With the introduction of Sr2+, the products change from long NaLuF4: Er3+ hexagonal microtubes to short hexagonal microtubes and finally to hexagonal microprisms.

The growth mechanism is profoundly discussed according to the different reaction time-dependent morphologies.

More importantly, the total fluorescence intensity is significantly reinforced by doping Sr2+ ions.

When 18% Sr2+ is doped into NaLuF4: Er3+ hexagonal microtubes, the maximum green and red luminescence intensities are about 5.8 and 4.4 times higher than those of Sr2+-free samples, respectively.

The influences of Sr2+ ion doping content on the phase, the morphology, and the local crystal field symmetry of the as-synthesized NaLuF4 crystals are investigated.