Sunlight activated ultra-stable long persistent luminescence glass ceramic for outdoor information display

Natural sunlight activated persistent luminescence (PeL) is ideal candidate for optical information display in outdoors without the requirement of electric supply. Except the brightness and duration, the stability especially water resistance of the PeL materials is of significant importance for practical application, which remains a great obstacle up to date. Herein, we report a new sunlight activated PeL glass ceramic containing hexagonal Sr₁₃Al₂₂Si₁₀O₆₆:Eu²⁺ crystals, which exhibits strong blue PeL and can last more than 200 h. The PeL can be charged by the full wavelengths located in AM 1.5G due to the broad distribution of traps in the crystal structure. The PeL is clearly observed by the naked eye even after 24 h upon sunlight irradiation irrespective of the weather, and the photoluminescence intensity only decreased ~3.3% after storing in water for 365 d. We demonstrate its potential application for thermal and stress responsive display as well as long-term continuous security indication upon sunlight irradiation, which not only save vast energy and reduce environment pollution, but also are appropriate for outdoor usage.