Co-Doping Effects of Zn2+ on Upconversion Luminescence of Gd2O3:Er Nanophosphors

As a new kind of solid-state-displaying, upconversion (UC) displaying devices using rare-earth ions as emitters are gaining more and more attentions by pumping with low-cost high-power infra-diode lasers[[1]]. In fact, to practically use the oxides UC phosphors, one of the most important works is the UC luminescence enhancing. On the subject of UC emission enhancement, the present work was spurred by the recent results from our team and Bai et al. that Li doping in Y2O3:Er and Y2O3:Er,Yb can improve the UC luminescence by orders of magnitude[24]. To better understand the enhancing mechanisms, here, we choose Zn as doping agent, which was doped into the Gd2O3 host to observe the UC emissions of Er. The UC luminescence was characterized and possible enhancing mechanisms were verified by the structural analysis.