Er³⁺-doped (Li,K,Na)NbO₃nano-ceramics with excellent UC PL properties prepared by spark plasma sintering

Rare earth doped perovskite oxides have attracted much attention due to their multifunctional properties (such as photoluminescence, ferro-/piezoelectricity and so forth). In the current work, Er³⁺-doped (Li,K,Na)NbO₃nano-ceramics were successfully synthesized by spark plasma sintering and as-obtained ceramics exhibited excellent up-conversion photoluminescence (UC PL) behavior. The influences of the doping of Er³⁺on the phase structure, microstructure, and UC PL properties were systematically investigated. The XRD and Raman analysis demonstrated that Er³⁺ion entered into A site of (Li,K,Na)NbO₃perovskite structure. The most obvious enhancement of UC PL emission was achieved in the ceramics with 0.25 mol% of Er³⁺doped, and the intensity of UC PL emission dropped with the further increase of Er³⁺doping. Moreover, it found that two photons contributed to this observed UC PL behavior. These findings here rendered potential application of Er³⁺doped (Li,K,Na)NbO₃smart materials in novel multifunctional devices.