Ho3+ and Yb3+ co-doped Y2O3 phosphor has been prepared by the combustion route and its upconversion emission has been studied by using a 980 nm diode laser excitation. The powder XRD measurement has shown cubic phase of the sample. Prepared phosphors have shown good upconversion intensity and exhibited UV to NIR upconversion emission bands. The co-doping of Yb3+ in Y2O3:Ho3+ phosphor has found to enhance the Ho3+ emission intensity nearly 290 times. Interestingly, large part of the total upconversion intensity emitted by the sample was found to be concentrated around 545 nm which resulted pure green emission. For potential security applications, the upconversion based text reading concept has been demonstrated using this phosphor. The temperature sensing property of synthesized phosphor has also been studied by using the fluorescence intensity ratio of two nearby levels of green emission. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.