A novel self-activated ultraviolet persistent luminescence material and its anti-counterfeiting application based on intensity and time resolution from persistent luminescence

Recently, the ultraviolet (UV) persistent luminescence material (PLM) has attracted extensive attention. However, the design and development of new UV PLM and exploring their promising advanced application remain challenges. Here, we developed a new dopant-free self-activated UVA PLM, Zn2Al2SiO7, which could be applied in anti-counterfeiting field. Zn2Al2SiO7 shows UVA persistent luminescence (PersL) peaking at 380 nm after 254 nm UV lamp excitation. Addition of Yb3+, the UVA PersL intensity and time are raised obviously, and the UVA PersL time lasts more than 24 h. In addition, Yb3+-doped Zn2Al2SiO7 exhibits photostimulated properties with different light source. Finally, we design anti-counterfeiting pattern based on intensity and time resolution from PersL of Zn2Al2SiO7, showing its advantages in the anti-counterfeiting field.