Luminescence quenching versus enhancement in WO3-NaPO3 glasses doped with trivalent rare earth ions and containing silver nanoparticles

• Comprehensive spectroscopy of tungsten phosphate glasses doped with Eu3+, Er3+ and Tb3+ containing Ag nanoparticles.
• Study of the effect of Surface Plasmon Resonance band of metallic nanoparticle on the emissive properties of rare earth ions.
• Investigation of RE luminescence enhancement or quenching due to the presence of Ag nanoparticles and/or other species.

We report on the influence of silver nanoparticles (NPs) on the luminescence behavior of trivalent rare earth (RE) ion doped tungsten-phosphate glasses. In order to induce the growth of NPs, the as-prepared glass samples containing silver atoms, are exposed to heat-treatment above the glass transition temperature. The surface plasmon resonance band of the Ag NPs is observed in the visible range around 420 and 537 nm in the glasses with low and high tungsten content, respectively. Such difference in spectral shift of the plasmon band is attributed to the difference in the refractive index of the two studied glass compositions. Heat-treatment results in the general increase in number of NPs, while in the case of glasses with low tungsten content, it also imposes a shift to the Ag plasmon band. The NPs size distribution (4–10 nm) was determined in good agreement with the values obtained by using Mie theory and by transmission electron microscopy. The observed quenching in the visible luminescence of glasses doped with Eu3+, Tb3+ or Er3+is attributed to energy transfer from the RE ions to Ag species, while an enhanced near-infrared emission in Er3+ doped glasses is discussed in terms of the chemical contribution of silver, rather than the most commonly claimed enhancement of localized field or energy transfer from silver species to Er3+. The results are supported by the lifetime measurements. We believe that this study gives further insight and in-depth exploration of the somewhat controversial discussions on the influence of metallic NPs plasmonic effects in RE-doped glasses.