Bismuth (Bi) is used for luminescent materials due to
its unique
optical performance, but deep-red light from Bi-doped materials is
rarely reported. In particular, establishing a design principle for
Bi-doped red materials is considered to be a significant challenge.
Herein, using a deep-red SrSc2O4:Bi material
featuring Bi–Bi pair emission, light-induced charge-transfer
from BiSc
3+–BiSr
3+ to BiSc
4+–BiSr
2+ enables the realization of Bi2+2P3/2(1) → 2
S
1/2 deep-red emission. Intriguingly,
SrSc2O4:Bi displays an excellent zero-thermal-quenching
performance from 298 to 423 K, with a peak intensity that retains
98% of the intensity at 298 K and an integrated intensity at 423 K
that even reaches 110% of the initial intensity. The intriguing spectroscopic
characteristics of SrSc2O4:Bi make it a promising
candidate in the agricultural field, night-vision security, and the
medical treatment area. This work advances the understanding of red
luminescence in Bi-activated luminescent materials and thus can initiate
more exploitation of red materials for emerging applications.