Tuning into single-band red upconversion luminescence in Yb(3+)/Ho(3+) activated nano-glass-ceramics through Ce(3+) doping.

Yb(3+)/Ho(3+) activated glass ceramics containing β-YF3 nanocrystals were successfully fabricated. The green ((5)S2/(5)F4→(5)I8) upconversion emission is dominant in the glass ceramics and is about 160 times stronger than that of the precursor glass, resulting from the partition of lanthanide activators into a low-phonon-energy crystalline lattice and the subsequent low probability of multi-phonon nonradiative relaxation from the (5)S2/(5)F4 and (5)I6 states to the lower ones. Upon the introduction of Ce(3+) ions into nano-glass-ceramics, two efficient cross-relaxation processes between Ho(3+) and Ce(3+), i.e., Ho(3+):(5)S2/(5)F4 + Ce(3+):(2)F5/2→Ho(3+):(5)F5 + Ce(3+):(2)F7/2 and Ho(3+):(5)I6 + Ce(3+):(2)F5/2→Ho(3+):(5)I7 + Ce(3+):(2)F7/2, are demonstrated to greatly suppress the population of the green-emitting (5)S2/(5)F4 state and to enhance the population of the red-emitting (5)F5 one, leading to the intense single-band red UC radiation of Ho(3+).