YBO3: Ce3+, Yb3+ based near-infrared quantum cutting phosphors: Synthesis and application to solar cells

Ce3+ and Yb3+ co-doped YBO3 phosphors were facilely fabricated by a hydrothermal method. The investigations reveal that hexagonal YBO3: Ce3+, Yb3+ nanoparticles aggregate to form cyclic structure after annealing at 900 °C. An efficient near-infrared (NIR) quantum cutting phenomenon involving the emission of two NIR photons (971 nm) for each ultraviolet (UV) photon (360 nm) absorbed is observed based on the cooperative energy transfer (CET) from Ce3+ to Yb3+ in YBO3 with a CET efficiency of 41.9%. Moreover, YBO3: Ce3+, Yb3+/SiO2 films with anti-reflection and NIR quantum cutting abilities were prepared by dip-coating method. The as prepared composite films can convert UV photons into NIR photons between 950 nm and 1050 nm, which well matched with the spectral response of the silicon-based solar cell. The experimental results indicate that the photoelectric conversion efficiency of silicon solar cell can be effectively improved by assembling the YBO3: Ce3+, Yb3+/SiO2 bi-functional film, and the corresponding conversion efficiency is about 0.521% higher than the pure glass and 0.252% higher than the pure SiO2 anti-reflection (AR) film. In a word, this work provides a simple strategy to develop optical films with AR and NIR quantum cutting abilities for solar energy conversion.