Luminescent Materials in Display and Biomedical Applications

Recently, much research attention has been paid to the rare earth ions since they bear unique electronic and optical characteristics arising from their 4f electrons. The luminescence features of rare earth ions include high luminescence quantum yield, narrow bandwidth, long-lived emission, large Stokes shifts, ligand-dependent luminescence sensitization, which have received startling interest because of the continuously expanding need for luminescent materials meeting the stringent requirements of telecommunication, lighting, electroluminescent devices, (bio-) analytical sensors, bioimaging set-ups and solar cells. In particular, rare earth orthophosphates (REPO4) have been extensively studied because of their potential applications in color displays, field-effect transistors, optoelectronics, solar cells, and light sources--