Phys.org July 26, 2022
Mechanoluminescence (ML) materials emit light in response to mechanical stimulation. However, most of today’s ML materials are polycrystalline ceramics or ceramic particle composites, which puts constraints on their bulk processability, material homogeneity and optical transparency. Researchers in Germany created a glass-ceramic material with mechanoluminescence properties by developing an exceptionally fast and stable crystallization process that allows the tiny chromium-doped zinc gallate (ZGO) crystals to precipitate homogeneously inside the glass after it has been shaped. They demonstrated it by using the ball-drop methos to show that the mechanoluminescence response was reproducible and rechargeable and that it exhibited a direct correlation with the impact energy. The work could help mechanoluminescent materials find widespread use in a variety of applications, including light-emitting product labels and security codes. In their future work they plan to adapt the glass composition so that it can be formed into sheet-like objects, optical fiber and microscale spherical beads and then explore how these could be used in components and devices…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Sample photographs under daylight and under UV LED illumination (365 nm, as labelled)…. Credit: Optical Materials Express, Vol. 12, Issue 8, pp. 3238-3247 (2022).