Trap-controllable near-ultraviolet elastico-mechanoluminescence of Ce³⁺ doped phyllosilicate with melilite-type...

Mechanoluminescence (ML) materials have attracted much attention because of their mechano-optical conversion characteristics, which have shown broad application prospects in stress sensing and anti-counterfeiting technology in the past few decades. However, elastico-ML has not been demonstrated at the near-ultraviolet (NUV) range. In this study, a novel NUV elastico-ML material (Ca, Sr)₈Mg₃Al₂Si₇O₂₈:Ce³⁺ (CSMASOC) with a melilite-type structure is successfully developed. The ML properties of CSMASOC were optimized by adjusting the doping concentration of Ce³⁺ and cation substitution, and the ML mechanism was also explored by analyzing the ML test under different irradiation conditions and thermoluminescence spectra. The results confirmed that the ML in CSMASOC was derived from 5d-4f transition of Ce³⁺, and CSMASOC belongs to trap-controllable ML material. In addition, NUV ML material CSMASOC is combined with several commercial phosphors, and constructed multi-color ML in the visible light range. The developed NUV ML materials and the constructed multi-color ML system in this work are critical for expanding the types of ML materials and promoting the practical application of ML materials.