Down-Conversion Polymer Composite Coatings with Multipeak Absorption and Emission

Abstract

Spectral adjustment is an effective method to increase light conversion efficiency of solar cells and to promote the growth of plants. Down-converter (DC) materials are considered to be one of the most effective methods of spectral modification. The focus of this work was to expand the spectral response range of down-conversion layers to achieve multipeak absorption and emission. Sr2CaMoO6:Sm,Na and YVO4:Bi,Eu, which have different excitation peaks in the UV-blue region and varied emission peaks in visible light regions, were prepared in this work. Sr2CaMoO6:Sm,Na can effectively produce red light at 648 nm upon excitation at 408 nm, while YVO4:Bi,Eu can produce red light at 618 nm upon excitation at 365 nm. Polymeric luminescent coatings with one single kind of phosphor were prepared separately before the two phosphors were mixed together in uniform polymer coatings. The two phosphors were also assembled in bilayer coatings with different concentrations. The results showed that high transmittances over 90% were achieved for the two composite coatings with the thickness of 20 and 30 μm. The increase in particle loadings from 1‰ to 4‰ slightly decreased coating transmittance but increased luminescence intensity. The increase in the ratio of Sr2CaMoO6:Sm,Na and YVO4:Bi,Eu from 5/1 to 10/1 resulted in high transmittance of the DC coatings, independent of total filler loadings (3‰ and 4‰) and coating thickness. The relative intensities of emission peaks can be adjusted conveniently by changing filler ratios. In addition, the transmittance and luminescent intensities of the coatings where the two phosphors were assembled in two layers were close to the uniform coatings, suggesting the negligible effect of UV light irradiation order. This work proved that the prepared coatings presented multipeak absorption and emission upon UV light excitation. These coatings can be expected to be applied in fields such as solar cells and agriculture greenhouses.