Time-dependent photoluminescence patterns based on Cr3+-doped and co-doped Zn3Ga2Ge2O10

In this paper, we pursued developing a kind of novel time-dependent patterns based on persistent luminescence (PersL). We prepared a series of Cr3+-doped PersL: ZGGO: m%Cr3+ (m = 0.5, 1, 2, 5); and co-doped PersL: ZGGO: 1%Cr3+, n%Yb3+, ZGGO: 1%Cr3+, n%Eu3+, (n = 0.5, 1, 2, 5). All the Cr3+-doped and co-doped ZGGOs possessed high-performance persistent luminescence property, which exhibited a 723 nm peaking luminescence and persistent luminescence under UV irradiation. The ZGGOs appeared similar in emission wavelength and color, except persistent luminescence intensity decreased for different degrees. Based on the properties of the materials, we produced the photoluminescence patterns which exhibit a time-dependent factor. Those were a flower-like pattern, a Chinese “Taiji” pattern, and a “solar eclipse” pattern. This strategy could provide a future use for information storage, security signs, and anti-counterfeiting.