A long persistent phosphor based on recombination centers originating from Zn imperfections

• A blue-white long persistent phosphor.
• Zn imperfections as emitting centers without any rare-earth doping.
• An energy transfer and remission process is proposed.

The recombination luminescence from Zn imperfections has been extensively investigated; however, there have been few reports on the long persistent luminescence of Zn imperfections as emitting centers. Here, we observed a long persistent luminescence in blue-white visible region from 6 ZnO:3 GeO2:Al2O3 phosphor with Zn imperfections as emitting centers. Persistent luminescence could be observed beyond 2 h with naked eyes. The properties of traps were also elaborated by the measurements of thermo-luminescence spectra and photo-stimulated luminescence decay curves. Furthermore, a long persistent phosphor with warm white color was developed by doping Cr3+ into 6 ZnO:3 GeO2:Al2O3 phosphor.

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