Enhancement of luminescence of nanocrystalline TiO2:Yb3+ nanopowders due to co-doping with Nd3+ ions

Abstract This paper presents structural and luminescent properties of Yb doped and Yb–Nd double doped TiO 2 nanopowders obtained by sol–gel method. Both, the morphology SEM-TE/TEM and structural XRD studies have revealed the presence of monodisperse nanoparticles with size of ∼10 nm. The obtained materials demonstrate the presence of Yb 3+ and Nd 3+ ions being found in luminescence when excited above the TiO 2 band gap. Furthermore, the excitation energy transfer between Nd 3+ and Yb 3+ ions is observed. The temperature dependences of different excitation ways (via TiO 2 host and via the energy transfer from Nd 3+ to Yb 3+ ) were established in the range from 4.5 K to 350 K. It was found that the TiO 2 :Yb(1.7%) Nd(0.2–2%) anatase nanopowders show significantly stronger luminescence than that of previously studied TiO 2 :Yb(1.7%) anatase/rutile material.