Chinese and American scholars find ‘most durable luminous material’

Luminous material “the scientific name is long afterglow material,” luminous cup “, “night pearl” and other articles are made of long afterglow material. Recently, a team from Hefei University of Technology and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have discovered the luminescence mechanism and reason of CaAl2O4:Eu, Nd, the most durable long-lasting luminescent material. The results have been published in the international famous academic journal “Materials Chemistry”.

Long persistence materials commonly known as “luminous material” or storage luminous materials, optical properties for visible light or ultraviolet excitation, can keep a few minutes to a few hours of continuous light, this materials in the weak light lighting, emergency instructions, information storage and display, energy-efficient buildings, intelligent transportation and other fields has extensive application value.

Up to now, CaAl2O4:Eu, Nd is the long afterglow material with the longest afterglow time and wide application prospect. This kind of blue-purple light material can last for more than 19 hours. However, despite years of research, the mechanism of its luminescence is still unclear, which restricts its development and application.

In recent years, with the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Anhui Province, the research team of the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Hefei University of Technology and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln have carried out a systematic theoretical study on the electronic energy level structure of various impurities and defects in “CaAl2O4:Eu, Nd” by using first-principles calculation method. The mechanism of luminescence and the reason of long afterglow are explained completely.

“In the foreseeable future, streetlamps made of long-afterglow materials could provide all-night light with only daylight exposure.” Zhang Bo, a professor at Hefei University of Technology and a member of the research team, said that by analyzing the luminescence mechanism of “CaAl2O4:Eu, Nd”, they further proposed the possible ways and methods of designing and synthesizing other novel long-afterglow materials, which is of great significance for promoting the theoretical research and development of long-afterglow materials.