Ag nanoparticles enhanced near-IR emission from Er3+ ions doped glasses

• Ag nanoparticles composited glasses were facilely synthesized.
• SPR absorption band of Ag nanoparticles is located from 500 to 1500 nm.
• 7.2-Folds enhancement of the intensity of 1.54 μm emission of Er3+ ions by SPR.

Vitreous materials containing rare-earth (RE) ions and metallic nanoparticles (NPs) attract considerable interest because the presence of the NPs may lead to an intensification of luminescence. In this work, the characteristics of 1.54 μm luminescence for the Er3+ ions doped bismuthate glasses containing Ag NPs were studied under 980 nm excitation. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band of Ag NPs appears from 500 to 1500 nm. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image reveals that the Ag NPs are dispersed homogeneously with the size from 2 to 7 nm. The strength parameters Ωt(t = 2, 4, 6), spontaneous emission probability (A), radiative lifetime (τ) and stimulated emission section (σem) of Er3+ ions were calculated by the Judd–Ofelt theory. When the glass contains 0.2 wt% AgCl, the 1.54 μm fluorescence intensity of Er3+ reaches a maximum value, which is 7.2 times higher than that of glass without Ag NPs. The Ag NPs embedded glasses show significantly fluorescence enhancement of Er3+ ions by local field enhancement from SPR.