Green, blue, red, near-infrared up-conversion luminescence of Yb3+/Er3+/Tm3+ co-doped YVO4 nanoparticles

YVO4: Yb3+, Er3+; YVO4: Yb3+, Tm3+; and YVO4: Yb3+, Er3+, Tm3+ were all synthesized via sol-gel method with a subsequent thermal treatment. Specifically, YVO4: Yb3+, Er3+, Tm3+ phosphors were prepared with different annealing temperatures to study the influence of temperature. The transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and photoluminescent (PL) spectrofluorometer were used to investigate the morphology, crystal structure, and up-conversion luminescent properties of all samples. In summary, all samples were granular-like nanoparticles and well crystallized with the same tetragonal phase as YVO4. Under the irradiation at 980 nm, YVO4: Yb3+, Er3+ phosphors can generate green emission at 525 and 553 nm and red emission at 657 nm, while YVO4: Yb3+, Tm3+ phosphors can generate blue emission at 476 nm, red emission at 648 nm, and near-infrared emission at 800 nm. Notably, YVO4: Yb3+, Er3+, Tm3+ samples can exhibit green emission, blue emission, red emission, and near-infrared emission at the same time, which might endow the as-prepared samples with potential applications in many fields, such as luminous paint, infrared detection, and biological label.