Er-Doped BiVO4/BiFeO3 Nanocomposites Synthesized via Sonochemical Process and Their Piezo-Photocatalytic Application.

In this work, Er-doped BiVO4/BiFeO3 composites are prepared using the sonochemical process with a difference of rare earth loading compositions. The crystallinity and chemical and morphological structure of as-synthesized samples were investigated via X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, and electron microscopy, respectively. The diffuse reflectance technique was used to extract the optical property and calculate the optical band gap of the composite sample. The piezo-photocatalytic performance was evaluated according to the decomposition of a Rhodamine B organic compound. The decomposition of the organic compound was achieved under ultrasonic bath irradiation combined with light exposure. The Er-doped BiVO4/BiFeO3 composite heterojunction material exhibited significant enhancement of the piezo-photocatalytic activity under both ultrasonic and light irradiation due to the improvement in charge generation and separation. The result indicates that Er dopant strongly affects the phase transformation, change in morphology, and alternation in optical band gap of the BiVO4 matrix. The incorporation of BiFeO3 in the composite form with BiVO4 doped with 1%Er can improve the photocatalytic performance of BiVO4 via piezo-induced charge separation and charge recombination retardment.

Stokes and anti-Stokes luminescence in Tm(3+)/Yb(3+)-doped Lu3Ga5O12 nano-garnets: a study of multipolar interactions and energy transfer dynamics.

Nanocrystalline Lu3Ga5O12 garnets doped with Tm(3+)/Yb(3+) ions have been synthesized by a low cost and environmentally benign sol-gel technique and characterized for their structural, Stokes and anti-Stokes luminescence properties. The diffuse reflectance spectra of doped Lu3Ga5O12 nano-garnets have been measured to derive the partial energy level structure of Tm(3+) and Yb(3+) ions and possible energy transfer channels between them. Upon laser excitation at 473 nm, weak red and intense near-infrared Stokes emissions have been observed in the nano-garnets. The decay curves of (3)H4 and (1)G4 levels of Tm(3+) ions and the (2)F5/2 level of Yb(3+) ions have been measured upon resonant laser excitation and are found to be non-exponential in nature due to multipolar interactions. In order to know the kind of multipolar interaction among optically active ions, the decay curves are analyzed through the generalized Yokota-Tanimoto model. Moreover, under 970 nm laser excitation, intense blue anti-Stokes emission is observed by the naked eye in Tm(3+)-Yb(3+) co-doped Lu3Ga5O12 nano-garnets. The results show that as-synthesized nano-garnets may be useful in the field of phosphors and photonics.

Infrared-to-Visible Light Conversion in Er(3+) -Yb(3+) :Lu3 Ga5 O12 Nanogarnets.

Er(3+) -Yb(3+) co-doped Lu3 Ga5 O12 nanogarnets were prepared and characterized; their structural and luminescence properties were determined as a function of the Yb(3+) concentration. The morphology of the nanogarnets was studied by HRTEM. Under 488 nm excitation, the nanogarnets emit green, red, and near-infrared light. The decay curves for the ((4) S3/2 , (2) H11/2 ) and (4) F9/2 levels of the Er(3+) ions exhibit a non-exponential nature under resonant laser excitation and their effective lifetimes are found to decrease with an increase in the Yb(3+) concentration from 1.0 to 10.0 mol %. The non-exponential decay curves are well fitted to the Inokuti-Hirayama model for S=8, indicating that the mechanism of interaction for energy transfer between the optically active ions is of dipole-quadrupole type. Upon 976 nm laser excitation, an intense green upconverted emission is clearly observed by the naked eyes. A significant enhancement of the red-to-green intensity ratio of Er(3+) ions was observed with an increase in Yb(3+) concentration. The power dependence and the dynamics of the upconverted emission confirm the existence of two-photon upconversion processes for the green and red emissions.