Improving sensing sensitivity of Er/Yb co-doped NaYF4 nanorods via selecting non-thermally-coupled levels

• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-017-7803-8
• Publication Date: 2017-09-11T18:24:21Z
• Authors: Haoyue Hao; Hongyu Lu; Guanghong Ao; Yinglin Song; Yuxiao Wang; Xueru Zhang
• Keywords: Nanorod

The temperature-dependent up-conversion luminescence of the Yb3+-Er3+ doped NaYF4:Er3+/Yb3+ nanorods, which can emit green, red and blue emissions, was investigated under 980 nm laser excitation. Our results showed that the natural log of I 520/I 550, I 654/I 550, I 520/I 407 and I 654/I 407 had well linear relationship with the reciprocal of temperature, suggesting their potential application in temperature measurement. At 471 K, the maximal sensing sensitivities of the above thermometry methods reached 0.007, 0.032, 0.6, 2.7 K−1, respectively. Moreover, the luminescence color shifted from green to yellow with the temperature increasing from 296 to 471 K. The calculated CIE coordinates varied linearly with the temperature, which also can be used in thermometry. These excellent properties make NaYF4:Er3+/Yb3+ nanorods an excellent candidate as a temperature sensor.