Broadband spectral conversion due to cooperative and phonon-assistant energy transfer from ZnO to Yb3+

The broadband spectral conversion from near-UV absorption into near-infrared emission around 1???m is reported in the ZnO?CLiYbO₂ hybrid phosphor, which is the benefit from the efficient energy transfer from ZnO to the Yb³⁺ ions that are specifically located at the interfacial diffusion regions between ZnO and LiYbO₂, rather than those in LiYbO₂ crystals. The Li⁺-related and Yb³⁺-related defect energy levels are formed inside the ZnO band gap in the ZnO?CLiYbO₂ hybrid phosphor; the former act as the quenching centers for the excitons in ZnO and meanwhile the efficient energy donors for Yb³⁺ ions, and the latter are responsible for the red shift of ZnO visible emission when the excitation energy is lower than E _g. The excitation power dependence of Yb³⁺ emission intensities is measured to investigate the number of photons that are involved in the energy transfer process, which reveals that there are two channels for the sensitizing of Yb³⁺: One is due to the energy transfer by the recombination of electrons and holes, which is a cooperative energy transfer process, and the other is via the energy feeding from the Li⁺-related energy levels, which is a phonon-assistant energy transfer process.