Near-infrared quantum cutting of Ce3+–Nd3+ co-doped Y3Al5O12 crystal for crystalline silicon solar cells

• The spectra of Ce3+ in YAG lies in the strongest region of solar spectrum.
• The NIR emission intensity of Nd3+ is much stronger than Yb3+ and has no CTS.
• The two-pathway ET mechanism dominates the DC process.
• YAG:0.01Ce3+, xNd3+ show high ETE and QE due to the ET mechanism.
• YAG:0.01Ce3+, xNd3+ has potential application in c-Si solar cells.

Near-infrared (NIR) quantum cutting involving the down-conversion of an absorbed visible photon to emission of two NIR photons was demonstrated in Y3Al5O12 (YAG):0.01Ce3+, xNd3+ (x = 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 15 mol%) samples. The photoluminescence properties of samples in visible and NIR regions were investigated to verify the energy transfer (ET) from Ce3+ to Nd3+. Results indicated that Nd3+ emissions located at 1064 nm was efficiently enhanced with Nd3+ concentration increasing because of ET from Ce3+. Based on these results, a possible two-pathway ET mechanism from Ce3+ to Nd3+ was presented. The decay lifetimes of YAG:0.01Ce3+, xNd3+ were estimated further to confirm the ET from Ce3+ to Nd3+. Simultaneously, the energy transfer efficiency (ETE) and quantum efficiency (QE) of YAG:0.01Ce3+, xNd3+ samples have been calculated as high as 79.43% and 160.7%, respectively. On the basis of maximum ETE and QE, the conclusion was drawn that the optimum Nd3+ concentration is 10 mol% and distance between Y3+ ions was 0.3659 nm without concentration quenching.