Enhanced Photoluminescence of Tb3+ Ions Ce3+ Ions and SnO2 Nanocrystals Co-doped Silica Thin Films

Co-doping Ce 3+ ions and size-tunable SnO 2 nanocrystals into Tb 3+ ions embedded silica thin films produces a ninefold enhancement of Tb 3+ related emission. Firstly, by optimizing the doping ratio of Sn 4+ ions and annealing temperature, the size of SnO 2 nanoparticles was well tailored for achieving a greatly enhanced photoluminescence emission from Tb 3+ ions. In order to further increase the emission of Tb 3+ ions, a proper concentration of Ce 3+ ions were also added into material. The co-doping situation was researched in this work. The emission of Tb3 + reaches the top when the concentration of Sn 4+ and Ce 3+ were recorded 15% and 2%. On the other side, companied with the increase of Ce 3+ ions concentration, the growth of CeO 2 nanoparticles were proved seriously attenuated the photoluminescence intensity of Tb 3+ ions. Therefore, the reducing gas phenomenon for annealing process could be very important. Finally, by analyzing the annealing temperature of co-doped sample, we conclude that a high annealing temperature such as 1000℃ can enhance the emission as well. These results indicated that an appropriate proportion of Ce 3+ ions and suitable size of SnO 2 nanocrystals can effectively sensitize the luminescence of Tb 3+ ions.