Tuning the luminescence of phosphors: Beyond conventional chemical method

KGaA, Weinheim. Tuning the luminescence of phosphors is extremely important in controlling and processing light for active components of light sources, optical sensing, display devices, and biomedicine. So far, conventional chemical approaches have routinely been employed to modify the luminescence during the phosphor's synthesis. It is interesting to broaden the modulation of luminescence by physical methods, such as electric field, magnetic field, mechanical stress, temperature, photons, ionizing radiation, and so on. Since some physical methods may provide unusual routes to tune the luminescence in in-situ, real-time, dynamical and reversible manners, it should be beneficial for our understanding the fundamentals of luminescence and widespread applications in a variety of advanced optical materials and devices. In this review, a unified picture and primary physical strategies used for tuning the luminescence are provided. An attempt is made to review recent advances of tuning the luminescence in a wide range of phosphors, including metal-ion-doped compounds, semiconductors, 2D layered nanomaterials, and stimuli-responsive organic phosphors. Lastly, some potential directions of challenging issues in this exciting field are suggested.