Sunlight-activated long-persistent luminescence in the near-infrared from Cr3+-doped zinc gallogermanates
Visible-light persistent phosphors are being widely used as self-sustained night-vision materials because of their sufficiently strong and long afterglow (>10 h) and their ability to be excited by sunlight as well as room light. In contrast, persistent phosphors for near-infrared (NIR) wavelength...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Nature materials 2012-01, Vol.11 (1), p.58-63 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Visible-light persistent phosphors are being widely used as self-sustained night-vision materials because of their sufficiently strong and long afterglow (>10 h) and their ability to be excited by sunlight as well as room light. In contrast, persistent phosphors for near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths are lacking. Here we report a series of Cr
3+
-doped zinc gallogermanate NIR persistent phosphors that exhibit strong emission at 650–1,000 nm, extending beyond the typical 690–750 nm, and with a super-long afterglow of more than 360 h. These new NIR persistent phosphors are all-weather materials that can be rapidly, effectively and repeatedly charged by natural sunlight in almost all kinds of outdoor environment. Seconds to minutes of sunlight activation can result in more than two weeks of persistent NIR light emission. This new series of NIR persistent materials have potential applications in night-vision surveillance, solar energy utilization and
in vivo
bio-imaging.
Persistent phosphors are known from applications such as night-vision goggles where they produce a characteristic green afterglow. The discovery of persistent phosphors that instead operate at near-infrared wavelengths with much longer afterglows may now enable new applications in night-vision surveillance and in bio-imaging. |
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ISSN: | 1476-1122 1476-4660 |
DOI: | 10.1038/nmat3173 |