Quantitative Analysis of Electron Transfer between Ce3+(5d1) and Yb3+/Eu3+ Ions in Y3Al5O12 and Lu2Si2O7

Standard semiclassical, high-temperature models for electron transfer are shown to be able to quantitatively describe the room-temperature electron transfer reactions between Ce 3+ (5d 1 ) donors and Eu 3+ /Yb 3+ acceptors in insulating oxide hosts. These reactions in Y 3 Al 5 O 12 and Lu 2 Si 2 O 7 hosts are analyzed using time-resolved and steady-state measurements of Ce 3+ 5d 1 → 4f 1 luminescence quenching, leading to an exponential distance decay constant, β, of 1.58−1.7 Å −1 . In these hosts, the similar values for β infer that the Δ G 0 for the electron transfer reaction is the main factor controlling the room-temperature electron transfer rate for RE 3+ donors/acceptors. Initial comparisons to ET in molecular systems are also made.