Advanced Intelligent Anti-Counterfeiting in a Memory Storage Phosphor Through Response of Charge Carriers to Temperature

Persistent phosphor as a printing anti-counterfeiting material has attracted strong attention owing to its inherent luminescent decay process and multi-mode luminescence characteristics under external field stimulation. However, the dynamic persistent luminescence (PersL) pattern of a single material is only manifested in color changes and still faces the problem of being easily decrypted. Herein, a multi-color luminescent material with a wide range distribution of traps is developed, which can emit strong white PersL. In addition, the phosphors show an intelligent response of thermo-stimulated luminescence to ambient temperature via recalling the charging temperature of the traps. The PersL mechanism is proposed based on electron transfer between PbO₆ and TbO₆ octahedrons through the O bridging. Based on the intelligent response of thermo-stimulated luminescence to temperature, high-throughput multi-channel luminescence anti-counterfeiting can be achieved on a single phosphor recording layer. This study not only provides further insights into the PersL mechanism, but also opens a new door for constructing intelligent responsive anti-counterfeiting materials.