Radical-Induced Hour-Level Afterglow and Efficient Circularly Polarized Luminescence From Metal Halide Hybrid Glasses

Molecular hybrid glasses have emerged as a fourth category in glass chemistry and materials, offering new possibilities beyond the synthesis limits and property constraints of traditional inorganic (nonmetallic), organic, and metallic systems. A key advancement in this field is the integration of multifunctionality into monolithic glasses, essential for next-generation smart optical display and information storage, but progress remains its nascent stage. Here, we introduce a family of large-scale monolithic photoactive hybrid glasses with enhanced environmental sustainability and no reliance on rare earth elements. Incorporating amine derivatives into a zero-dimensional organic-inorganic halide glass enables persistent luminescence (PersL) over hours-surpassing state-of-the-art hybrid glasses based on RTP or TADF. Importantly, we disruptively elucidate the underlying mechanisms of radical-induced PersL (RIP) and precise photochromism in these glasses, addressing a long-standing scientific challenge. Additionally, embedding chiral molecules in the glass matrix induces efficient circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), achieving an optical dissymmetry factor (g_lum) of up to 1.1 × 10^-2 -setting a new benchmark for chiral hybrid glasses. This work not only advances the design and synthesis of high-performance photofunctional hybrid glasses integrating PersL, photochromism, and CPL, but also expands their potential applications in information security, semiconductor inks, UV printing, and chiroptical devices.