Multicolor Tunable Luminescence Based on Tb³⁺/Eu³⁺ Doping through a Facile Hydrothermal Route

Ln 3+ -doped fluoride is a far efficient material for realizing multicolor emission, which plays an important part in full-color displays, biolabeling, and MRI. However, studies on the multicolor tuning properties of Ln 3+ -doped fluoride are mainly concentrated on a complicated process using three or more dopants, and the principle of energy transfer mechanism is still unclear. Herein, multicolor tunable emission is successfully obtained only by codoping with Tb 3+ and Eu 3+ ions in β-NaGdF 4 submicrocrystals via a facile hydrothermal route. Our work reveals that various emission colors can be obtained and tuned from red, orange-red, pink, and blue-green to green under single excitation energy via codoping Tb 3+ and Eu 3+ with rationally changed Eu 3+ /Tb 3+ molar ratio due to the energy transfer between Tb 3+ and Eu 3+ ions in the β-NaGdF 4 host matrix. Meanwhile, the energy transfer mechanism in β-NaGdF 4: x Eu 3+ / y Tb 3+ ( x + y = 5 mol %) submicrocrystals is investigated. Our results evidence the potential of the dopants’ distribution density as an effective way for analyzing energy transfer and multicolor-controlled mechanism in other rare earth fluoride luminescence materials. Discussions on the multicolor luminescence under a certain dopant concentration based on single host and wavelength excitation are essential toward the goal of the practical applications in the field of light display systems and optoelectronic devices.