A recent breakthrough from the team led by Professor Xia Zhiguo at the State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, introduces a rapid synthesis technique based on the self-stabilizing particle model in glass melts. They have successfully developed a novel high-stability rare-earth fluorescent powder-glass composite material tailored for laser illumination applications. The findings of this research were recently published in Nature Communications.
Rare-earth luminescent materials are among the core materials for the efficient utilization of strategic rare-earth resources in China. Inorganic rare-earth fluorescent powder has significant applications and practical demands in lighting, displays, and other light source devices.
Professor Xia Zhiguo explained to Chinese Science Bulletin that the efficiency drop of LEDs under high power and the stability issues and aging problems of traditional fluorescent powder-converted LED light source devices under conditions such as high temperature and humidity in organic encapsulation are pressing challenges. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop high-stability fluorescent glass/ceramic materials to meet the requirements of high-power LEDs and laser fluorescent light source applications, such as aviation lighting, underwater illumination, and endoscopy.
Research demonstrates that rare-earth fluorescent powder-glass composite materials (PGC) offer a wide range of choices for glass matrix materials and excellent stability. However, existing PGC materials suffer from long synthesis times, leading to inevitable thermal erosion and performance degradation of the fluorescent powder. Therefore, developing rapid synthesis strategies for PGC can ensure the integrity of rare-earth fluorescent powder particles to maintain or even enhance luminous efficiency, reduce costs, and significantly improve manufacturing efficiency of PGC materials.
The team proposed a rapid synthesis strategy for fluorescent powder-glass composite materials based on the self-stabilizing particle model in glass melts. They established a wetting model relationship between molten glass and fluorescent powder particles, enabling various commercial rare-earth fluorescent powder particles to be densely and uniformly dispersed in tellurite glass within 10 seconds.
The yellow-emitting PGC material prepared in this study exhibited a quantum efficiency of 98.4% and an absorption coefficient of 86.8%. Under 450-nanometer blue laser excitation, it produced ideal white light with a luminous flux of 1227 lumens. The research team also synthesized a series of glass-based composite luminescent materials with high quantum efficiency and adjustable orange, yellow, and green colors, providing a generalized synthesis strategy for novel multifunctional glass composite materials.
Related Paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45293-0
