Eu2 +/La3+ co-doped BaMgSiO4 photochromic ceramics with enhanced mechanical strength for multifunctional optical applications

Eu/La co-doped BaMgSiO 4 photochromic ceramics were fabricated via tape casting, which effectively improves the mechanical properties of the material. • The obtained ceramics exhibit high photochromic contrast, stable thermal fading performance and efficient reversible luminescence modulation. • Oxygen vacancies generated by Eu/La co-doping trigger dual-mode photoresponse, enabling multifunctional optical and flexible wearable applications. Inorganic photochromic materials with reversible photoresponse are widely applied in optical anti-counterfeiting, information storage and visual sensing. However, it remains a critical challenge to simultaneously achieve high strength and multimodal photoresponse in a single photochromic system. In this study, Eu 2+ /La 3+ co-doped BaMgSiO 4 photochromic ceramics are fabricated by tape casting. La 3+ doping effectively refines grains and improves density, leading to enhanced mechanical properties with Vickers hardness of 6.62 GPa and fracture toughness of 3.52 MPa·m 1/2 . Optical measurements confirm that the ceramic achieves a photochromic contrast of 80.2% (reflectance at 525 nm) and luminescence modulation of 34.4% (Eu 2+ emission at 443 nm) upon 365 nm irradiation for 4 s, with favorable linear thermal fading behavior. This work develops mechanically enhanced ceramics with dual-mode photochromic response, offering novel technical strategies and theoretical insights for advancing inorganic photochromic ceramics toward practical applications.