Phase transition and Nd3+/Pr3+ co-doping induced enhancement of NIR emission in ScP3O9: Cr3+ phosphor.

• ScP 3 O 9 : Cr3+, shows a broadband NIR emission and peaking at ∼900 nm. • The PL intensity of ScP 3 O 9 : Cr3+ can be enhanced by phase transition. • ScP 3 O 9 : Cr3+, Nd3+, Pr3+ exhibits an excellent PL thermal stability (86 % at 423 K). • The NIR pc-LED device can be applied in non-destructive analysis. Near-infrared (NIR) phosphors play an important role in NIR pc-LEDs. However, NIR phosphor with long wavelength are still suffered from low efficiency and poor thermal stability. Herein, a blue light excitable ScP 3 O 9 : Cr3+ NIR phosphor with an emission peak > 880 nm is reported. Significantly, the PL intensity of ScP 3 O 9 : Cr3+ increased to 241 % when the monoclinic phase changes to cubic. Moreover, by co-doping the cubic ScP 3 O 9 : Cr3+ with Nd3+, Pr3+ ions, the PL internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the phosphors increased from 62 % to 74 %, and the thermal quenching of the phosphor is suppressed effectively (86 % at 423 K). The energy transfer processes between Cr3+ and Nd3+, Pr3+ ions are proposed to be responsible for the enhancement. Furthermore, an efficient NIR pc-LED was fabricated, and gives a high photoelectric efficiency of 16.5 % (26.8 mW at 60 mA). Finally, multifunctional applications of the NIR device in night-vision and nondestructive analysis were demonstrated. An efficient broadband NIR phosphor ScP 3 O 9 : Cr3+, Nd3+, Pr3+ with excellent thermal stability is prepared to fabricate compact NIR pc-LED based on commercial blue diode chips. The NIR pc-LED device is promising for the applications in non-destructive analysis. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]