Upconversion emission of a novel glass ceramic containing Er: BaYF5 nano-crystals

In order to develop highly efficient upconversion (UC) material, Er³⁺-doped oxyfluoride glass ceramics containing BaYF₅ nano-crystals were fabricated for the first time. The randomly distributed BaYF₅ nano-particles with the size of nearly 25 nm precipitated from the glass matrix at about 700 °C, then tended to aggregate slightly with the increase of heating temperature, resulting in the enhancement of Er³⁺ UC emission in the wavelength ranging from 500 nm to 700 nm. The UC process was found very sensitive to Er³⁺ content: with the increase of Er³⁺ content from 0.5% to 1.0%, the UC intensity behaved with drastic exaltation; while further increasing Er³⁺ content to 2.0% resulted in a notable fluorescence quenching. Significantly, the UC efficiency of present glass ceramic preponderates notably over that of the previously reported glass ceramic containing LaF₃, implying its superior UC potentiality.