Luminescence thermal enhancement property of Zn3Mo2O9:Yb3+/Tb3+(Eu3+) phosphor and the application for temperature sensing and anti-counterfeiting

In this paper, a series of Zn 3 Mo 2 O 9 :Yb 3+ /Eu 3+ /Tb 3+ phosphor are prepared by solid-state reaction. The up-conversion(UC)/down-shifting(DS) luminescence properties are investigated in detail. The intensities of all emission bands present luminescence thermal enhancement under 980 nm excitation. From 293 to 493 K, the red emission intensity of Zn 3 Mo 2 O 9 :Yb 3+ /Eu 3+ sample increase by 2.36 times, and the green emission band intensity of Zn 3 Mo 2 O 9 :Yb 3+ /Tb 3+ sample increase by 4.85 times. The temperature-dependent cooperative energy transfer(CET) process of Yb 3+ ions has an important contribution to thermal enhancement due to the negative thermal expansion(NTE) of Zn 3 Mo 2 O 9 matrix. In addition, the optical temperature sensing properties of the Zn 3 Mo 2 O 9 :Yb 3+ /Tb 3+ /Eu 3+ phosphor are discussed according to the luminescence intensity ratio(LIR) technique. Zn 3 Mo 2 O 9 :Yb 3+ /Tb 3+ /Eu 3+ phosphor can obtain bright deep red, yellow and orange light under the excitation of 395, 487 and 980 nm, which is used for multi-mode fluorescence anti-counterfeiting.