Ce³⁺,Tb³⁺,Yb³⁺ Co-Doped YBO₃ Phosphors:Synthesis And Application To Solar Cells

This work provides a simple strategy to develop optical films with anti-reflection and near-infrared ?NIR? quantum cutting abilities for solar energy conversion by YBO₃:Ce³⁺, Tb³⁺, Yb³⁺phosphors and SiO₂ anti-reflection.Ce³⁺-Yb³⁺ co-doped YBO₃ phosphors were facilely fabricated by a hydrothermal method. The investigations reveal that PH value, C12H27BO3/RE3+ ratio, and Ce³⁺-Yb³⁺ doping concentration play critical roles in modifying the morphology and fluorescent performance of the samples. nanosheets aggregate to form cyclic structure after annealing at 900?. The emissions of YBO₃:Ce³⁺, Yb³⁺ phosphors were 385 nm,413 nm and 971nm by absorbed ultraviolet photon ?360 nm? through the cooperative energy transfer ?CET? from Ce³⁺to Yb³⁺ in YBO₃, and the quantum efficiency ?QE is accordingly calculated to be 141.9%.Ce³⁺-Tb³⁺-Yb³⁺ co-doped YBO₃ nanosheet phosphors are successfully synthesized Tb³⁺ ions are found to have the abilities of broadening the emission band and enhancing the near-infrared emission intensity of Ce³⁺-Yb³⁺ codoped YBO₃ phosphors, and the near-infrared emission intensity of Yb³⁺ has been obviously enhanced while the visible emissions of Ce³⁺ and Tb³⁺ rapidly decrease with the increasing of Yb³⁺ doping concentration. The synthesized Ce³⁺-Tb³⁺-Yb³⁺codoped YBO₃ phosphors are characterized to absorb photons in ultraviolet band and emit visible and near infrared photons through internal energy transfer process between Ce³⁺, Tb³⁺, and Yb³⁺ions.YBO₃:Ce³⁺, Yb³⁺/SiO₂ films with anti-reflection and NIR quantum cutting abilities were prepared by dip-coating method. The as prepared composite films can convert UV photons into NIR photons between 950 nm and 1050 nm, which well matched with the spectral response of the silicon-based solar cell. The experimental results indicate that the photoelectric conversion efficiency of silicon solar cell can be effectively improved by assembling the YBO₃:Ce³⁺, Yb³⁺/SiO₂ bi-functional film, and the corresponding conversion efficiency is about 0.521% higher than the pure glass and 0.252% higher than the pure SiO₂ anti-reflection ?AR? film.