Hackmanite - The Natural Glow-in-the-Dark Material

Cecilia Agamah, Sami Vuori, Pauline Colinet, Isabella Norrbo, José Miranda de Carvalho, Liana Key Okada Nakamura, Joachim Lindblom, Ludo van Goethem, Axel Emmermann, Timo Saarinen, Tero Laihinen, Eero Laakkonen, Johan Linden, Jari Konu, Henk Vrielinck, David Van der Heggen, Philippe Smet, Tangui Le Bahers, Mika Lastusaari

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)
109 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

“Glow-in-the-dark” materials are known to practically everyone who has ever traveled by airplane or cruise ship, since they are commonly used for self-lit emergency exit signs. The green afterglow, persistent luminescence (PeL), is obtained from divalent europium doped to a synthetic strontium aluminate, but there are also some natural minerals capable of afterglow. One such mineral is hackmanite, the afterglow of which has never been thoroughly investigated, even if its synthetic versions can compete with some of the best commercially available synthetic PeL materials. Here we combine experimental and computational data to show that the white PeL of natural hackmanite is generated and controlled by a very delicate interplay between the natural impurities present. The results obtained shed light on the PeL phenomenon itself thus giving insight into improving the performance of synthetic materials.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8895-8905
JournalChemistry of Materials
Volume32
Issue number20
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Sept 2020
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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