Elsevier

Ceramics International

Volume 47, Issue 3, 1 February 2021, Pages 3185-3194
Ceramics International

New insights into phosphorescence properties of LuAGG: Long afterglow phosphor-in-glass for optical data storage

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.09.155Get rights and content

Abstract

Newly long afterglow phosphor-in-glass (PiG) plays pivotal roles in the region of optical data storage. By using solid-phase reactions and unique spectrum modulation methods, a color-tunable PiG with decent persistent phosphorescence which can be tuned from green to blue has been fabricated. Lu3Al2Ga3O12: Ce3+, Cr3+ (LuAGG: Ce3+, Cr3+) based on TBZNA glass could emit bright green light signal located at 350 and 420 nm ascribed to the 5d1/5d2-4f transitions when corresponding optical data was being loadout. The doping of Cr3+ increases the density of the trap and provides additional traps between the shallow trap and the deep trap to capture more electrons, further improving afterglow decay time. And the storage time and cyclic reading times are derived by the method of thermal stimulation. Thereinto, tunable emission color has been obtained via changing the concentration of Ga3+, using UV excitation. Moreover, the influence of the Cr3+/Ga3+ on luminescence properties of long-afterglow-PiG materials have been described in detail. Achieved results confirm that it makes LuAGG-PiG as a long afterglow PiG matrix, demonstrating its promising application in optical data storage.

Introduction

Different from conventional fluorescent phosphors, long-afterglow phosphor-in-glass (PiG) [[1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]] has unique properties of optical data storage (ODS) and long-persistent-phosphorescence (LPP) [[7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]], which has attracted more attention during recent years. ODS is an effective method of making long-afterglow-PiG to store high-energy and transform into the input of data signal which can be perceived by the human eye. And, LPP is a peculiar optical phenomenon that is enable to emit consecutive light-source for a longtime, which is excited by high-energy radiation. The property of LPP materials is caused by emitting and trap centers which are represented as the main cause of luminescence [[15], [16], [17], [18]]. Meanwhile, different color is controlled by emitting centers and the intensity of luminescence is created by trap centers with doping different RE ions. With this process, some impurity defects may be produced accordingly. However, it is the primary reason that the impurity defects, as the centers of defect, can lead to the phenomenon of LPP [[19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26]]. Therefore, it is essential to obtain the relevant defects and the host materials for the phosphorescence properties of LPP.

Due to its unique optical characters, LPP materials have attracted widespread attention in recent years. For instance, Hai, O [27] et al. reported a kind of LPP phosphor Sr2MgSi2O7 with Eu2+ and Dy3+ions by Cu nanoparticles, enhancing the properties of long afterglow. Jin, Y [28] et al. researched Y2O2S:Eu3+, Mg2+, Ti4+, illustrating the potential applications of long afterglow fibers. Ding, X [29] et al. synthesized Ca2Sn2Al2O9 with Mn2+ ions, which can provide electrons for Sn4+ and Mn4+ with high yellow color purity. Wenzhi, Sun [30] et al. studied KGaGeO4 with Bi3+ ions, proposing and discussing the feasible mechanism of LPP materials. Huimin, Li [31] et al. reported the long afterglow phosphor Ba2Ga2GeO7:Pr3+ with a trap-detrap scenario to illustrate the mechanism of white LPP. And Wei, Zeng [32] reported a series of LPP phosphors Ca2BO3Cl: Eu2+, Ln3+, discussing the mechanism of ODS. These LPP materials have been commercialized in some fields, just like biological imaging, displays, safety signs and diagnostic medicine. Although, most of these materials own the excellent ability for LPP, the disadvantages of non-flexible in the tunable color [[33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38]] of the materials and lack of appropriate packaging technology require the development of newly long-afterglow PiG material. Thus, LuAGG:Ce3+, Cr3+, as a superior LPP materials, possesses the properties of color regulation with flexibility and stable chemistry which is confirmed to be the new generation of high efficiency long-afterglow phosphor. Meanwhile, borotellurite glass has unique character of physicochemical which can be used as an excellent carrier for LuAGG:Ce3+, Cr3+. Because of the aforesaid reasons, the composite of LuAGG:Ce3+, Cr3+ and borotellurite glass is enabled to become a predominant candidate for LPP.

In this work, LuAGG:Ce3+, Cr3+-PiG (LuAGG-PiG) plays a pivotal role which can be used as a promising LPP material, owing flexible optics-tunableness-signal and superior property of fluorescence packaging. Especially, co-doping of Cr3+ can effectively improve the persistent luminescence of Ce3+ in LuAGG matrix with increasing the trap state and density, reducing the gap between shallow and deep traps by providing additional traps. Therefore, LuAGG-PiG is selected as research representativeness to utterly discuss the optical properties of classical materials LuAGG:Ce3+,Cr3+ with the thoroughly explored in ODS.

Section snippets

Fabrication of LuAGG-PiG

The samples used in this research were phosphor materials Lu2.9Al2Ga3O12: 0.1Ce3+, xCr3+ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.015) which were prepared in the following raw materials Lu2O3(4 N), Al2O3(4 N), Ga2O3(4 N), CeO2(4 N), Cr2O3(4 N), and H3BO3(A.R.). After weighing the reactants together, put them into an agate-mortar to be grinded utterly for 30 min. And then, the heat treatment was conducted under a reducing atmosphere of 95%N2+5%H2 gas (100 ml/min), and the solid reaction was sintered at 1400 °C for 4 h in a

XRD and crystal structure of LuAGG:Ce3+,Cr3+

Fig. 2(a) shows the XRD patterns of LuAGG:0.1Ce3+, xCr3+ (x = 0/0.001/0.005/0.015) in which the whole diffraction peaks of the samples match suitably with the standard cards (PDF#73-1372, PDF#73-1368) for comparison. And the diffraction peak positions of all samples are in the middle of the diffraction peak positions of Lu3Al5O12 (PDF#73-1368) and Lu3Ga5O12 (PDF#73-1372) with increment of doping Ce and Cr ions. An enlarged view of the main diffraction peak (2-Theta = 33.5°) of the sample which

Conclusions

In summary, a color-tunable LuAGG-PiG with excellent LPP properties are fabricated, which are using for ODS. The density of the trap is increased by doping of Cr3+ to further promote the property of fluorescence decay time. The trap mentioned above possesses a series of positive effects to the character of optical storage. LuAGG-PiG is enabled to store optical data efficiently via 350 and 420 nm excitation, which is ascribed to the 5d1/5d2-4f transitions. Especially, utilizing UV pump source,

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

The research work was supported by the Scientific Research Funding Project from the Educational Department of Liaoning Province, China (Grant No. J2020068) and the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Grant No. CityU 11218018).

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