Quantitative Analysis of Electron Transfer between Ce3+(5d1) and Yb3+/Eu3+ Ions in Y3Al5O12 and Lu2Si2O7

Standard semiclassical, high-temperature models for electron transfer are shown to be able to quantitatively describe the room-temperature electron transfer reactions between Ce3+(5d1) donors and Eu3+/Yb3+ acceptors in insulating oxide hosts. These reactions in Y3Al5O12 and Lu2Si2O7 hosts are analyzed using time-resolved and steady-state measurements of Ce3+ 5d1 → 4f1 luminescence quenching, leading to an exponential distance decay constant, β, of 1.58−1.7 Å−1. In these hosts, the similar values for β infer that the Δ G 0 for the electron transfer reaction is the main factor controlling the room-temperature electron transfer rate for RE3+ donors/acceptors. Initial comparisons to ET in molecular systems are also made.