Major Headway was achieved in mechanistic study of the persistent luminescence of CaAl2O4: Eu, Nd under the joint research by professors from School of Materials Science and Engineering, HFUT and Professor Zeng Xiaocheng from University of Nebraska—Lincoln, with the study published on famedChemistry of Materials.(http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b00288)

Persistent luminescence (PL) materials, commonly referred to as fluorescence materials, can continue to emit light for minutes, sometimes hours and days, after the end of the excitation. Such materials are widely used in weak lighting, emergency signage, information storage and display, energy-saving architecture and smart traffic.

CaAl2O4:Eu is a PL material in the blue light region with the most lasting luminescence up to over 19 hours, thus with great potential for use. Despite years of studies, we still don’t have a clearing understanding of its luminescence mechanism, which restrained the development and application of new-type PL materials.

The research team led by Professor Zhang Bo from School of Materials Science and Engineering conducted a theoretical analysis of electronic structures of the dopants, the defects of CaAl2O4:Eu based on first-principles calculations. Through analyzing the PL mechanism of CaAl2O4:Eu, the authors further proposed the possible approaches and methods to synthesize new-type PL materials with good PL properties.

The study is of great significance in promoting the experimentation, theoretical analysis and application of new-type PL materials.