Designing Photochromic Materials with Large Luminescence Modulation and Strong Photochromic Efficiency for Dual‐Mode Rewritable Optical Storage

Abstract

Inorganic materials combining photochromism and luminescence modulation characteristics have great potential in dual‐mode rewritable optical storage due to their unique optical features and excellent thermal stability. However, the failure of achieving a large luminescence modulation and a strong photochromic efficiency in photostimulated inorganic photochromic materials limits their applications. Herein, a new strategy for realizing an overlap between the photochromic absorption peak and the photoluminescent emission/excitation peak is proposed for designing high‐performance photochromic materials. The obtained BaMgSiO4: M (M = Ce3+, Mn2+, or Nd3+) ceramics exhibit a reversible white‐pink color change upon alternate 310 nm and 590 nm illumination (or thermal stimulus) accompanied by a high photochromic efficiency (>50%). Benefiting from a perfectly matched photochromic absorption peak and Mn2+ emission peak, a record luminescence modulation of 96.3% with excellent fatigue resistance is obtained in BaMgSiO4: Mn2+ ceramics. These properties are superior to all photochromic materials reported to date, demonstrating great potential in optical information storage applications. The trap‐related photochromic and regulated luminescence behavior is investigated together with a prototype of a dual‐mode information display. This work is expected to promote the practical application of photochromic materials in various optical devices and provides an effective strategy to develop other photochromic materials.

Reversible mechanochromic studies on AIE-inspired smart materials and their applications in HCHO sensing

“…Recently, stimulus-responsive fluorescent materials have gained extensive importance given their various applications such as information storage, data security, anti-counterfeiting and encryption. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Depending on the nature of the stimulus, these "smart materials" could be classified as thermochromic, [9][10][11][12] mechanochromic, [13][14][15] photochromic [16][17][18] and solvatochromic. [19][20][21][22] Under one external stimulus, these developed "smart materials" have the ability to switch fluorescent colors.…”

Realizing nondestructive luminescence readout in photochromic ceramics via deep ultraviolet excitation for optical information storage

“…[8][9][10][11][12] Although most reported photochromic materials are organic compounds by far, inorganic photochromic materials possess some inherent advantages over the organic-based materials in the aspects of thermal stability, chemical resistance and fatigue properties, and hence have attracted more attention in recent years. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Currently, the research on inorganic photochromic materials mainly focuses on transition metal oxides (WO3, MoO3, TiO2, Nb2O5 and V2O5), [22][23][24][25][26][27] ferroelectrics (Na0.5Bi4.5Ti4O15, Na0.5Bi2.5Nb2O9, Bi4Ti3O12, KSr2Nb5O15, SrBi2Nb2O9 and K0.5Na0.5NbO3), 10,11,18,20,21,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] and other robust oxides (BaMgSiO4, Sr2SnO4 and (Ca,Sr,Ba)5(PO4)3F). [38][39][40][41][42][43][44] For these materials, light-induced changes in physical properties such as refractive index, electron conductivity, magnetic properties, refractive index or absorption spectrum can be regarded as the digital code of "0" and "1", respectively.…”

Large reversible upconversion luminescence modification and 3D optical information storage in femtosecond laser irradiation-subjected photochromic glass

“…Photochromic materials with absorption and photoluminescence modulation were recently developed as novel optical data storage media [9][10][11]. As established guiding rules for the optical storage application of photochromic materials, a fast photoresponse, large storage capacity, nondestructive reading, and high coloration and luminescence contrast are required [12,13]. Inorganic photochromic materials have garnered extensive attention as optical information storage media owing to their high strength or mechanical resistance, good thermal and chemical stabilities, and low environmental toxicity [14][15][16].…”

“…Inorganic photochromic materials have garnered extensive attention as optical information storage media owing to their high strength or mechanical resistance, good thermal and chemical stabilities, and low environmental toxicity [14][15][16]. At present, many inorganic photochromic ceramics, such as BaMgSiO 4 , Na 0.5 Bi 4.5 -Ti 4 O 15 , and PbWO 4 , have been developed as optical data storage media, achieving the maximum downshift luminescence contrast of 96.3% [12,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. However, the three-dimensional (3D) storage of optical information cannot be realized using photochromic ceramics, limiting their storage capacity.…”