Ratiometric thermal sensing based on dual emission of YBO3:Ce3+, Tb3+

A new temperature measurement strategy based on the luminescence of Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ doped YBO 3 was proposed. Dual emissions of Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ have different thermal dependencies, which can be used to overcome those limitations such as low signal discriminability and large measurement error. A series of Ce 3+ and/or Tb 3+ doped YBO 3 samples were synthesized by hydrothermal method , and the influences of temperature on the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of Ce 3+ 5d-4f transition and Tb 3+ 4f-4f transition were discussed in detail. Compared with the single emission of YBO 3 :1.0%Ce 3+ , fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) variation of Ce 3+ blue emission and Tb 3+ green emission in YBO 3 :1.0%Ce 3+ , 1.0%Tb 3+ has been studied as a function of temperature in the range of 288–328 K. The absolute sensitivity of YBO 3 :1.0%Ce 3+ , 1.0%Tb 3+ was 1.18 %K −1 , higher than that of YBO 3 : 1.0%Ce 3+ (0.70 %K −1 ). The results suggest that YBO 3 :Ce 3+ , Tb 3+ is a good candidate as optical thermometry in the physiological range.