Invisible near‐infrared thermo‐stimulated luminescence from carbon dots enabled by stepwise energy transfer for concealed information encryption
- 1International Joint Research Center for Photo‐responsive Molecules and Materials School of Chemical and Material Engineering Jiangnan University Wuxi China
Abstract
Thermo‐stimulated luminescent (TSL) materials capable of near‐infrared (NIR) emission are attractive for optical information storage and anti‐counterfeiting owing to their intrinsic optical memory and concealed thermal readout characteristics. However, most such TSL systems rely on rare‐earth or transition‐metal doping, while fully metal‐free NIR TSL materials remain extremely lacking. Herein, we report the construction of a metal‐free and NIR‐emissive TSL system based on carbon dots (CDs) via a stepwise energy transfer strategy, by decoupling energy storage and emission regulation within a hybrid material architecture. CDs are embedded in a carbon nitride matrix and simultaneously serve as emissive centers and trap‐modulating units, enabling efficient photoinduced energy storage and thermally activated release. By further integrating stepwise Förster resonance energy transfer, intrinsic green TSL is converted into pink and NIR emission without introducing any metal elements. The resulting materials exhibit long‐term charge retention, rewritable optical memory, and highly concealed NIR readout, enabling advanced applications in information storage, encryption, and anti‐counterfeiting.
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BibTeX
@article{jiang2026invisible,
title = {{Invisible near‐infrared thermo‐stimulated luminescence from carbon dots enabled by stepwise energy transfer for concealed information encryption}},
author = {Kai Jiang and Jun Jiang and Zihan Cheng and Hao Cui and J F Zhang and Hengwei Lin},
journal = {Responsive materials},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1002/rpm2.70057},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/rpm2.70057},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Invisible near‐infrared thermo‐stimulated luminescence from carbon dots enabled by stepwise energy transfer for concealed information encryption
AU - Kai Jiang
AU - Jun Jiang
AU - Zihan Cheng
AU - Hao Cui
AU - J F Zhang
AU - Hengwei Lin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/16
JO - Responsive materials
DO - 10.1002/rpm2.70057
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/rpm2.70057
AB - Thermo‐stimulated luminescent (TSL) materials capable of near‐infrared (NIR) emission are attractive for optical information storage and anti‐counterfeiting owing to their intrinsic optical memory and concealed thermal readout characteristics. However, most such TSL systems rely on rare‐earth or transition‐metal doping, while fully metal‐free NIR TSL materials remain extremely lacking. Herein, we report the construction of a metal‐free and NIR‐emissive TSL system based on carbon dots (CDs) via a stepwise energy transfer strategy, by decoupling energy storage and emission regulation within a hybrid material architecture. CDs are embedded in a carbon nitride matrix and simultaneously serve as emissive centers and trap‐modulating units, enabling efficient photoinduced energy storage and thermally activated release. By further integrating stepwise Förster resonance energy transfer, intrinsic green TSL is converted into pink and NIR emission without introducing any metal elements. The resulting materials exhibit long‐term charge retention, rewritable optical memory, and highly concealed NIR readout, enabling advanced applications in information storage, encryption, and anti‐counterfeiting.
SN - 2834-894X
SN - 2834-8966
ER -