Development of oxyfluoroborate glass ceramics doped with Er3+ and Yb3+

Abstract

The preparation of oxyfluoroborate glasses and glass–ceramics doped with Yb3+ and Er3+ with improved luminescent properties is reported. Glasses with compositions (100 − x − y) (MO·2B2O3)+xPbF2+y(YbF3:ErF3) (% in mol), where M is Sr, Ba, Ca, x=10–40% and y=0, 1 or 5% were prepared by the melt/quenching technique. Glass crystallization was studied using thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction techniques. Optical absorption and infrared up-conversion were studied on both glasses and glass–ceramics. The incorporation of a fluoride compound into the borate glass resulted to depend on the ionic radius of the glass modifier: as it increases, glasses become more stable against crystallization. On the other hand, alkali–fluoride compounds such as BaF2 and SrF2 can be crystallized from these systems by selecting an appropriate proportion between their components. Furthermore, the up-conversion response can be tuned by changing the glass modifiers (Sr, Ba and Ca) of the borate matrix, which also influence the type of fluoride crystallized compound. The strontium glass–ceramics have the highest luminescence response due to the crystallization of SrF2 compound in the system SrO–B2O3–PbF2. Meanwhile, the lowest luminescence signal was obtained for samples in the system BaO–B2O3–PbF2 where the Pb1.33Ba2.66B11FO20 phase crystallizes. With this strategy, new materials with improved luminescence properties that can be used as up converters, were obtained.