Luminescent properties in the visible of Er3+/Yb3+ activated composite materials

•Er3++Yb3+:Y2O3 nanopowders exhibit excellent luminescent properties in the visible.•Nanocrystals incorporated into PMMA matrix keep their original optical properties.•Active ions are shielded from the interactions with the phonons of polymer matrix.•Polymers doped with active nanoparticles could be considered as a new class of lasing materials.

In this work we present the results of our research on luminescent properties in the visible spectral range of two different composite materials – based on polymer (PMMA) and glass (B2O3–BaO–K2O) hosts doped with Er3++Yb3+:Y2O3 nanocrystallites. The luminescent properties of these two composites were carefully studied on the basis of excitation and emission characteristics complemented by fluorescence dynamics profiles. The specific attention was given to the main deactivation mechanisms and up-conversion phenomena as well as analysis of the influence of host’s type on the optical properties of erbium ions.