Down-shifting phosphors are frequently used for their ability to convert high energy photons into lower energy for applications in displays, lighting, and sensing. Of the down-shifting phosphors, nanocrystals have attracted attention due to their ease in integration in lens host materials, reduced scattering cross-sections, and efficient conversion of a pump LED source into red, green, and blue emission. However, current commercial phosphors are frequently made of non-earth abundant or potentially harmful materials, such as InP, CdSe or Ce:YAG to name a few. As per current initiatives, future phosphor design should be optimized to utilize earth abundant materials, absorb pump LED irradiation for the purpose of single-color emission to enhance color quality, and reduce size to sub 10 nm to minimize scattering caused by the pump LED. In addition, it is important to design material whose absorption overlaps with commercial LEDs. In this work, we demonstrate the sensitization of Tb(III) through two competing energy transfer routes from Ce(III) and a surface passivating ligand, where the ability to spectrally tune the nanophosphor is accomplished through changes in the excitation wavelength. The energy transfer mechanisms are anticipated to be governed through a Dexter energy transfer process from the ligand to the Ln(III) and a resonant energy transfer process through dipole-quadrupole coupling from Ce(III) to Tb(III). Additionally, elucidation of energy transfer rates from Ce(III) to Tb(III) can be made through temperature and pressure dependent studies where Ce(III) emission is shown to shift to lower energy with increasing pressure, thus changing the spectral overlap of the donor and acceptor. Physical characterization of the nano-spinel phosphors will be accomplished through FT-IR, NMR, and pXRD. Optical characterization will include absorption, photoluminescence, quantum yield, and lifetimes.

Molecular sensitization via competitive energy transfer pathways in Ce3+ and Tb3+ doped ZnAl2O4 nano-spinel down-shifting phosphors

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.