Optical Properties and Upconversion Luminescence of BaTiO3 Xerogel Structures Doped with Erbium and Ytterbium.

Erbium upconversion (UC) photoluminescence (PL) from sol-gel derived barium titanate (BaTiO3:Er) xerogel structures fabricated on silicon, glass or fused silica substrates has been studied. Under continuous-wave excitation at 980 nm and nanosecond pulsed excitation at 980 and 1540 nm, the fabricated structures demonstrate room temperature PL with several bands at 410, 523, 546, 658, 800 and 830 nm, corresponding to the 2H9/2 → 4I15/2, 2H11/2 → 4I15/2, 4S3/2 → 4I15/2, 4F9/2→ 4I15/2 and 4I9/2→ 4I15/2 transitions of Er3+ ions. The intensity of erbium UC PL increases when an additional macroporous layer of strontium titanate is used beneath the BaTiO3 xerogel layer. It is also enhanced in BaTiO3 xerogel films codoped with erbium and ytterbium (BaTiO3:(Er,Yb)). For the latter, a redistribution of the intensity of the PL bands is observed depending on the excitation conditions. A multilayer BaTiO3:(Er,Yb)/SiO2 microcavity structure was formed on a fused silica substrate with a cavity mode in the range of 650-680 nm corresponding to one of the UC PL bands of Er3+ ions. The obtained cavity structure annealed at 450 °C provides tuning of the cavity mode by 10 nm in the temperature range from 20 °C to 130 °C. Photonic application of BaTiO3 xerogel structures doped with lanthanides is discussed.

New Unsymmetrically Substituted Benzothiadiazole-Based Luminophores: Synthesis, Optical, Electrochemical Studies, Charge Transport, and Electroluminescent Characteristics.

Three new benzothiadiazole (BTD)-containing luminophores with different configurations of aryl linkers have been prepared via Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling Suzuki and Buchwald-Hartwig reactions. Photophysical and electroluminescent properties of the compounds were investigated to estimate their potential for optoelectronic applications. All synthesized structures have sufficiently high quantum yields in film. The BTD with aryl bridged carbazole unit demonstrated the highest electrons and holes mobility in a series. OLED with light-emitting layer (EML) based on this compound exhibited the highest brightness, as well as current and luminous efficiency. The synthesized compounds are not only luminophores with a high photoluminescence quantum yield, but also active transport centers for charge carriers in EML of OLED devices.

The photophysics of porous silicon: technological and biomedical implications.

Although porous silicon (pSi) was first obtained in the mid-20th century, considerable interest in this material arose much later, due to the discovery of its room-temperature photoluminescence (PL). In the 1990s, most studies on pSi were focused on the analysis and explanation of its photoluminescent and electroluminescent characteristics and their potential practical applications. The latest advances in pSi research are related to its biocompatibility and biomedical applications. The discovery of singlet oxygen generation by pSi through nonradiative transfer of photoexcitation energy has opened new prospects for photodynamic therapy in vivo, and the discovery of laser desorption/ionization on pSi has paved the way for advanced approaches in mass-spectrometry. In this study, the main photophysical properties of pSi are reviewed, and a wide range of photo-processes characteristic of pSi and their practical implications are analyzed in terms of the general principles of energy and charge transfer. Special attention is paid to the possible applications of pSi and pSi-based nanocomposites in photonics, biophysics, medicine, and analytical chemistry.