Suppressed Concentration Quenching Brightens Short‐Wave Infrared Emitters

Abstract

The brightness of doped luminescence materials is usually limited by the ubiquitous concentration quenching phenomenon resulting in an intractable tradeoff between internal quantum efficiency and excitation efficiency. Here we report an intrinsic suppression of concentration quenching in sensitized luminescence systems by exploiting the competitive relationship between light emitters and quenchers in trapping excitation energies from sensitizers. Although Cr³⁺ sensitizers and trivalent lanthanide (Ln³⁺, Ln = Yb, Nd, and Er) emitters themselves are highly susceptible to concentration quenching, we demonstrate the unprecedentedly high‐brightness luminescence of Cr³⁺−Ln³⁺ systems in the short‐wave infrared (SWIR) range employing high concentrations of Cr³⁺, whereby a record photoelectric efficiency of 23% is achieved for SWIR phosphor‐converted light‐emitting diodes, which is about twice as high as those previously reported. Our results underscore the beneficial role of emitters in terminating excitation energies, opening up a new dimension for developing efficient sensitized luminescence materials.

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