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

Co-doping Ce3+ ions and size-tunable SnO2 nanocrystals into Tb3+ ions embedded silica thin films produces a ninefold enhancement of Tb3+ related emission. Firstly, by optimizing the doping ratio of Sn4+ ions, the size of SnO2 nanoparticles was well tailored for achieving a greatly enhanced photoluminescence emission from Tb3+ ions. Another method to significantly enhance Tb3+ emission was increasing the proportion of Ce3+, and this method only require a relatively small amount rare earth (RE) ions for obtaining an obvious emission enhancement. On the other side, companied with the increase of Ce3+ ions concentration, the growth of CeO2 nanoparticles were proved seriously attenuated the photoluminescence intensity of Tb3+ ions. Finally, we also analyzed the influence of annealing temperature on the photoluminescence intensity. These results indicated that an appropriate proportion of Ce3+ ions and suitable size of SnO2 nanocrystals can effectively sensitize the luminescence of Tb3+ ions.