Steady-State Photoluminescence Characteristics of Sb-Doped AgI Thin Films

The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of vapor quenched Ag−Sb thin films progressively iodized under ambient conditions have been measured for various excitation energies. At lower concentrations (1% and 5%), Sb doping enhances the emission intensity by way of binding to surface defect sites that otherwise would trap excited electrons and prevent fluorescence. At higher concentration (13%), excess Sb is available, even after saturating the initial traps, to quench the radiative emission and thus decrease the quantum efficiency. In this way, Sb addition effectively blocks direct charge recombination but without affecting the decay characteristics relative to that of undoped AgI.