Brightening Full‐Spectrum Lanthanide Mechanoluminescence in a Wurtzite Semiconductor via Structural Reconstruction
Dongxu Guo, Hao Suo, Jiaqi Zhao, Kejie Li, Yu Zhang, Ruiying Lu, Zuoling Fu
Abstract
ABSTRACT Mechanoluminescence (ML) materials hold promising potential for cutting‐edge applications such as optoelectronic wearable devices. However, the semiconductor‐type ML materials are very limited to date due to their low compatibility with lanthanide dopants. Herein, we report a structural reconstruction strategy to boost full‐spectrum lanthanide emissions in ZnO semiconductor. Mechanistic investigations affirm that the introduction of Na + ions could reconstruct stable [LnO 6 ] octahedra from tetra‐coordinated Zn 2+ sites by creating numerous Zn 2+ vacancies, significantly increasing the amounts of carriers for photon emissions. Accordingly, we achieve a marked enhancement of photon emissions in both photoluminescence (PL) and ML modes, registering maximum factors of 120‐fold (quantum efficiency ∼92.9%) and 50‐fold in ZnO:Na + /Nd 3+ crystal, respectively. This work establishes a universal doping paradigm for luminescence enhancement of tetrahedral wurtzite semiconductors, which holds great promise for advanced applications such as deep‐tissue stress distribution.