Narrowband Ultraviolet-B Persistent Luminescence in an Indoor-Lighting Environment through Energy Transfer from Host Excitons to Gd 3+ Emitters in ScPO 4

• Published in: Inorganic chemistry 2023-07, Vol.62 (30), p.12050-12057
• Main Authors: Shan, Xihui, Ying, Xiao, Liang, Yanjie, Zhang, Yi, Lv, Xulong, Chen, Dongxun, Miao, Shihai, Ning, Lixin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0020-1669; 1520-510X
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c01558

Narrowband ultraviolet-B (NB-UVB) luminescent materials are characterized by high photon energy, narrow spectral width, and visible-blind emission, thus holding great promise for photochemistry and photomedicine. However, most NB-UVB phosphors developed so far are photoluminescent, where continuous external excitation is needed. Herein, we realize NB-UVB persistent luminescence (PersL) in an indoor-lighting environment by exploiting the interaction between self-trapped/defect-trapped excitons and Gd emitters in ScPO . The phosphor shows a self-luminescing feature with a peak maximum at 313 nm with a time duration of >24 h after ceasing X-ray irradiation, which can be clearly imaged by an UVB camera in a bright environment. Spectroscopic and theoretical approaches reveal that thermo- and photo-stimulations of energies trapped at intrinsic lattice defects followed by energy transfer to Gd emitters account for the emergence of the afterglow. The present results can initiate more exploration of NB-UVB PersL phosphors for emerging applications in secret optical tagging and phototherapy.