Controllable thermo-stimulated luminescence in niobate persistent phosphor by constructing the photovoltaic/electrolytic cell for remote intelligent anti-counterfeiting

Persistent luminescence (PersL) that carries remote information is of paramount importance for intelligent anti-counterfeiting applications. However, the feeble PersL intensity, along with its uncontrollability, hamstrings their practical utilization. Here we develop LiNbO 3 (LNO):Pr,Bi phosphor with enhanced red PersL by trace doping of Sm 3+ . The LNO:Pr,Bi,Sm phosphor exhibits quadruplet luminescence, namely polychrome photoluminescence, PersL, and photo/thermo-stimulated luminescence (PSL/TSL). Particularly, the enhanced TSL can carry remote subjective information independent of the phosphor itself by controlling the temperature. A mechanism of PersL enhancement is proposed based on constructing reversible photovoltaic cells and electrolytic cells by photothermal redox reactions using Bi 3+  + V O and Bi 3+ /Pr 3+  + V Li ' ion pair. This study has initiated the exploration of designing information storage PersL materials for more sophisticated remote intelligent anti-counterfeiting.