Recently, Ph.D. student Hongyuan Zhu from BEBC has published his first author review in Journal of Luminescence  entitled " A modified energy transfer model for determination of upconversion emission of β-NaYF4:Yb,Er: Role of self-quenching effect ".

The paper introduced A modified energy transfer model by incorporating self-quenching effect to determine upconversion emission of β-NaYF4:Yb,Er. The simulation results agree well with existing experimental results, demonstrating the critical role of self-quenching effect in upconversion emission. The modeling results confirm that a 4.4-fold increase of green upconversion and 86-fold increase in the intensity of red upconversion emission could be realized by suppressing self-quenching. In addition, the optimal doping concentrations for integral emission intensity are found to be independent of excitation power, while the green to red ratio is found to rely significantly on excitation power. The model offers mechanistic insight into upconversion emission processes and provides inspirations in improving upconversion emission efficiency through optimization of energy transfer pathways in different types of matrix sub-lattice.