Photoluminescence and electrical properties of Er³⁺-doped Na_0.5Bi_4.5Ti₄O₁₅--Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ inter-growth ferroelectrics ceramics

Abstract

Upconversion (UC) and electrical properties of Na_0.5Bi_8.5−xEr_xTi₇O₂₇ (NBT–BIT–xEr, 0.00≤x≤0.25) ceramics were studied. Structural analysis revealed that a single inter-growth structured phase exists in all samples and the Er³⁺ ion substituting for Bi³⁺ at the A-site increases the orthorhombic distortion. Under the 980 nm laser excitation, two characteristic green emission bands and one red emission band were situated at 527, 548 and 670 nm, corresponding to the transitions ²H_11/2 → ⁴I_15/2, ⁴S_3/2 → ⁴I_15/2 and ⁴F_9/2 → ⁴I_15/2, respectively. The optimal photoluminescence (PL) were found in the NBT–BIT–0.20Er sample, and the emission color transforms from green to yellowish green. Temperature dependence of fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) for NBT–BIT–0.20Er was measured ranging from 290 to 440 K and its maximum sensitivity was calculated to be about 0.0020 K⁻¹ at 290 K. Dielectric measurements indicated that T_C slightly increased simultaneously with the decrease of tanδ. Therefore, this ceramic has potential applications for high-temperature multifunctional devices.

Keywords

inter-growth structure / photoluminescence (PL) / electrical properties / multifunctional materials

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51562014, 51262009 and 51602135), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi, China (Grant Nos. 20133ACB20002 and 20142BAB216009), the Foundation Provincial Department of Education (GJJ150931 and GJJ150911) and the Innovation Training Program of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute (Grant No. 212050-008), and partially sponsored by the Foundation of Training Academic and Technical Leaders for Main Majors of Jiangxi (Grant No. 2010DD00800).

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