Journal
LIGHT-SCIENCE & APPLICATIONS
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
CHINESE ACAD SCIENCES, CHANGCHUN INST OPTICS FINE MECHANICS AND PHYSICS
DOI: 10.1038/s41377-018-0089-7
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [11574225, 11874275, 51672106, 11474083]
- Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD)
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Phosphors emitting visible and near-infrared persistent luminescence have been explored extensively owing to their unusual properties and commercial interest in their applications such as glow-in-the-dark paints, optical information storage, and in vivo bioimaging. However, no persistent phosphor that features emissions in the ultraviolet C range (200-280 nm) has been known to exist so far. Here, we demonstrate a strategy for creating a new generation of persistent phosphor that exhibits strong ultraviolet C emission with an initial power density over 10 milliwatts per square meter and an afterglow of more than 2 h. Experimental characterizations coupled with first-principles calculations have revealed that structural defects associated with oxygen introduction-induced anion vacancies in fluoride elpasolite can function as electron traps, which capture and store a large number of electrons triggered by X-ray irradiation. Notably, we show that the ultraviolet C afterglow intensity of the yielded phosphor is sufficiently strong for sterilization. Our discovery of this ultraviolet C afterglow opens up new avenues for research on persistent phosphors, and it offers new perspectives on their applications in terms of sterilization, disinfection, drug release, cancer treatment, anti-counterfeiting, and beyond.
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