Ultralong room temperature phosphorescence from amorphous organic materials toward confidential information encryption and decryption

A glowing solution to data security

28 September 2018

Scientists have developed a simple and low-cost method for producing long-lived phosphorescence from organic materials that could provide a new way to encrypt and decrypt confidential information, according to a study in Science Advances.  

Some crystalline organic materials can emit ultra-long room temperature phosphorescence (URTP) in which the glow from excited atoms remains observable for seconds to several hours, and is used in applications ranging from biological imaging to storing confidential information.

However, producing and maintaining the high-quality crystalline structures necessary for URTP is very challenging.  

Now, a China-Singapore team, which includes researchers from Nanyang Technological University, has created high-quality crystalline films of URTP made from organic materials that can emit phosphorescence for several seconds after being exposed to ultraviolet light of a specific wavelength at room temperature.

By creating UV-responsive URTP materials, the work could lead to new devices for applications in bioimaging, information storage, and data security.  

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References

1. Sci. Adv. 4, 9732 (2018). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aas9732