Enhanced green and red upconversion emissions in Er3+-doped boro-tellurite glass containing gold nanoparticles

• Er3+-doped boro-tellurite glasses containing gold NPs were prepared by melt-quench method.
• Au NPs with an average size of ∼5.74 nm were observed by TEM.
• Red emission is enhanced up to 30 times.
• Finally, the mechanisms involving in such enhancements are discussed.

Increasing the cross-section of upconversion emissions from the rare earth ions doped materials is a challenging issue. In this work, we report on the enhancement of the up-converted emissions of Er3+-doped boro-tellurite glasses containing gold nanoparticles which have been prepared by a conventional melt-quench technique. Seven absorption bands and three emission lines are observed using the UV–Vis–IR and photoluminescence spectroscopic techniques, respectively. Red emission is enhanced up to 30 times in a sample having 1 wt% of Au nanoparticles. The presence of the gold nanoparticles with average size of ∼5.74 nm is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and corresponding surface plasmon band is observed at 630 nm in a singly-doped Au-nanoparticles embedded glass sample. A model to determine the enhancement factor of the emissions is suggested which could not describe the phenomenon for high concentrations of nanoparticles. Enhancement is attributed to the increased local field around the metal, and the results are discussed in details.