EurekAlert  March 6, 2024
Optical properties of afterglow luminescent particles (ALPs) in mechanoluminescence (ML) and mechanical quenching (MQ) have diverse technological applications. An international team of researchers (South Korea, USA – Stanford University) designed ALPs for the development of a wearable and rewritable photonic display system as a communication toolbox under dark conditions or underwater environments with limited communication. The system demonstrated long-lasting MQ after short ML along the handwritten trajectories with mechanical pressure and the written content could be easily erased by short UV light irradiation, preserving the system integrity with the high reproducibility of ML and MQ responses. The effect of trapped electrons and the recharging process on the ML and MQ were assessed, which provided insights into their underlying mechanisms. The display system exhibited remarkable resistance to humidity and retained its rewritable and photonic capabilities underwater for a long period. They also demonstrated the rewritable property of the system on human skin confirming their effectiveness as a wearable photonic display system. According to the researchers taken together, this research will pave a new avenue to develop biophotonic materials for various biomedical applications with mechano-optical conversions… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
A schematic representation of an optical display system using mechanoluminescence…Credit: POSTECH