High-Efficiency and Stable Long-Persistent Luminescence from Undoped Cesium Cadmium Chlorine Crystals Induced by Intrinsic Point Defects

Application of long-persistent luminescence (LPL) materials in many technological fields is in the spotlight. However, the exploration of undoped persistent luminescent materials with high emission efficiency, robust stability, and long persistent duration remains challenging. Here, inorganic cesium cadmium chlorine (CsCdCl 3 ) is developed, featuring remarkable LPL characteristics at room temperature, which is synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. Excited by ultraviolet light, the CsCdCl 3 crystals exhibit an intense yellow emission with a large photoluminescence quantum yield of ≈90%. Different from the reported systems with lanthanides or transition metals doping, the CsCdCl 3 crystals without dopants perform yellow LPL with a long duration of 6000 s. Joint experiment-theory characterizations reveal the intrinsic point defects of CsCdCl 3 act as the trap centers of excited electrons and the carrier de-trapping process from such trap sites to localized emission centers contributes to the LPL. Encouraged by the attractive fluorescence and persistent luminescence as well as good stability of CsCdCl 3 against environment oxygen/moisture (75%), heat (100 °C for 10 h), and ultraviolet light irradiation, an effective dual-mode information storage-reading application is demonstrated. The results open up a new frontier for exploring LPL materials without dopants and provide an opportunity for advanced information storage compatible for practical applications.