Stimuli responsive lanthanide ions doped layered piezophotonic microcrystals for optical multifunctional sensing applications

Multifunctional optical sensing devices are of decisive significance to the miniaturization and integration of optoelectronic devices. However, the development of stimuli responsive materials with multimode emission is still in the early stage, limiting the application of integrated optical sensing. Here, we report the multimode emission piezophotonic material fabricated by doping lanthanide ions into the quaternary piezoelectric semiconductor SrZnOS, achieving multimode emission under various stimulus/excitation sources (ultraviolet, near-infrared laser, X-ray, and force), due to its multifunctional optical properties. Particularly the mechanoluminescence has been realized covering both the visible and near-infrared spectral bands. Optical stress sensing was achieved by establishing a quantitative relationship between force and light conversion. Moreover, near-infrared mechanoluminescence can effectively resist the interference of ambient light. The temperature detection performance and the power-dependent color tunability of the sample were also evaluated for multifunctional applications. All the results indicate that the developed multifunctional optical materials with inherent multimode light-emitting characteristics have the potential in advanced optical sensing and anti-counterfeiting applications. The piezophotonic material with multimode emission has been developed by doping lanthanide ions into layered quaternary piezoelectric semiconductor SrZnOS. The materials can be responsive to external stimuli (X-ray, UV light, NIR laser, stress), which could be used for energy conversion and optical stress/temperature dual-sensing. [Display omitted] •Lanthanide ions doped SrZnOS is synthesized for stress/temperature dual-sensing.•It can be responsive to multi-mode stimuli (X-ray, UV light, NIR laser, stress).•The material can generate mechanoluminescence covering visible and NIR region.•The developed flexible composite can be used for energy conversion and sensing.