Achieving the conversion from Room-Temperature phosphorescence to photothermal properties by Carbon-Regulated bandgap

Abstract

Bandgap tunability plays an important role in controlling the photophysical properties of semiconductor material. In this work, we propose a powerful carbon component engineering strategy for regulating the optical bandgap of scandium/cysteine functional materials (Sc/Cys-FMs) that are synthesized by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. The band structure of Sc/Cys-FMs is closely related to the Cys ligands. As Cys amount rises, the obtained Sc/Cys-FMs exhibit the red-shifted room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) emission from Sc/Cys-FMs-50 (3.01 eV) to Sc/Cys-FMs-150 (2.14 eV), accompanied by a decrease in quantum efficiency and an increase in lifetime. Meanwhile, the Sc/Cys-FMs show a unique time-dependent phosphorescence color (TDPC) phenomenon, with a dynamic transition of RTP color from yellow to green as the decay time prolongs because of the emission-dependent lifetime. As the amount of Cys further increases, the bandgap can be continuously reduced to 1.88 eV (Sc/Cys-FMs-300) and 1.56 eV (Sc/Cys-FMs-600), causing the quenching of RTP emission and significantly enhanced photothermal properties. The continuously decreasing bandgap has been proven to be directly ascribed to the increase of carbon component in Sc/Cys-FMs. Considering the TDPC properties, Sc/Cys-FMs can be well used for dynamic phosphorescent anti-counterfeiting. This work not only develops a scalable method for preparing functional materials with superior RTP and photothermal properties, but also proposes the carbon component engineering strategy to achieve bandgap tunability of materials.