Spectral downshifting from blue to near infer red region in Ce3+-Nd3+ co-doped YAG phosphor

•The Ce3+-Nd3+ ion pair co-doped YAG phosphors synthesized by solid state reaction method at 1000 °C for 4 h.•The NIR strong emissions reported at 1063 nm at blue excitation of 453 nm due to Nd3+ ion in Ce3+ ion doped YAG.•The phenomenon of energy transfer (ET) from Ce3+ ions to Nd3+ ion was studied.•ET efficiency and QE are theoretically calculated by using time decay luminescence curves.•The YAG co-doped with Ce3+-Nd3+ ion pair could be serving as good NIR DS phosphor for improving solar cells performance.

The YAG phosphors co-doped with Ce3+-Nd3+ ions by varying concentration of Nd3+ ion from 1 mol% to 15 mol% were successfully synthesized by conventional solid state reaction method. The phosphors were characterized by powder X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and surface morphology was studied by scanning electronic microscope (SEM). The photoluminescence (PL) properties were studied in near infra red (NIR) and ultra violet visible (UV–VIS) region. The synthesized phosphors can convert a blue region photon (453 nm) into photons of NIR region (1063 nm). The energy transfer (ET) process was studied by time decay curve and PL spectra. The theoretical value of energy transfer efficiency (ETE) was calculated from time decay luminescence measurement and the maximum efficiency approached up to 82.23%. Hence this phosphor could be prime candidate as a downshifting (DS) luminescent convertor (phosphor) in front of crystalline silicon solar cell (c-Si) panels to reduce thermalization loss in the solar cells.

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