Xihui Shan, Xulong Lv, Dongxun Chen, Yi Zhang, Lixin Ning and Yanjie Liang
{"title":"A narrowband ultraviolet-B-emitting LiCaPO4:Gd3+ phosphor with super-long persistent luminescence for over 100 h†","authors":"Xihui Shan, Xulong Lv, Dongxun Chen, Yi Zhang, Lixin Ning and Yanjie Liang","doi":"10.1039/D4QI02407A","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p >The past decades have witnessed a significant increase in interest in inorganic luminescent materials that emit in the narrowband ultraviolet-B (NB-UVB; 310–313 nm) spectral region due to the growing need for applications in photochemistry and photomedicine. However, the majority of existing NB-UVB phosphors rely on photoluminescence, which requires constant external excitation. This common but inconvenient photoluminescence style significantly slows down the progress of NB-UVB luminescence technology. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of a new Gd<small><sup>3+</sup></small>-doped NB-UVB-emitting persistent phosphor, LiCaPO<small><sub>4</sub></small>:Gd<small><sup>3+</sup></small>, which shows strong NB-UVB persistent luminescence peaking at 312 nm and a super-long persistence time of >100 h after ceasing X-ray excitation. Owing to the zero-background noise from the ambient light, a UVB camera can detect the NB-UVB light emission originating from the charged LiCaPO<small><sub>4</sub></small>:Gd<small><sup>3+</sup></small> phosphor in a bright indoor environment. Through spectroscopic investigations and first-principles calculations, the nature of energy traps and the persistent luminescence mechanism of Gd<small><sup>3+</sup></small> in the LiCaPO<small><sub>4</sub></small> host have been thoroughly studied. Besides, remarkable photochromic behavior when irradiating the phosphor with X-rays is also observed, and the possible intrinsic point defects that contribute to the colorization are proposed. This NB-UVB persistent phosphor shows great potential in indoor optical tagging, optical information storage, and dermatological therapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":79,"journal":{"name":"Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers","volume":" 23","pages":" 8314-8323"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/qi/d4qi02407a","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, INORGANIC & NUCLEAR","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The past decades have witnessed a significant increase in interest in inorganic luminescent materials that emit in the narrowband ultraviolet-B (NB-UVB; 310–313 nm) spectral region due to the growing need for applications in photochemistry and photomedicine. However, the majority of existing NB-UVB phosphors rely on photoluminescence, which requires constant external excitation. This common but inconvenient photoluminescence style significantly slows down the progress of NB-UVB luminescence technology. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of a new Gd3+-doped NB-UVB-emitting persistent phosphor, LiCaPO4:Gd3+, which shows strong NB-UVB persistent luminescence peaking at 312 nm and a super-long persistence time of >100 h after ceasing X-ray excitation. Owing to the zero-background noise from the ambient light, a UVB camera can detect the NB-UVB light emission originating from the charged LiCaPO4:Gd3+ phosphor in a bright indoor environment. Through spectroscopic investigations and first-principles calculations, the nature of energy traps and the persistent luminescence mechanism of Gd3+ in the LiCaPO4 host have been thoroughly studied. Besides, remarkable photochromic behavior when irradiating the phosphor with X-rays is also observed, and the possible intrinsic point defects that contribute to the colorization are proposed. This NB-UVB persistent phosphor shows great potential in indoor optical tagging, optical information storage, and dermatological therapy.