Sustainable Mechanoluminescence by Designing a Novel Pinning Trap in Crystals

Mechanoluminescence (ML) from purely inorganic materials is basically triggered by a pre-UV-irradiation process, which largely limits its practical applications. Here, by designing a pining-trap structure, a novel sustainable ML is developed from Ruddlesden–Popper perovskite Sr3Sn2O7:Sm3+ (SSOS) even without the pre-UV-irradiation process. This ML of SSOS could keep stable and remain a certain intensity even extending the waiting time to 50 h. The ML mechanism is also investigated by the analysis of trap structure through the thermoluminescence method. A thermoluminescence peak at 420 K showed no attenuation after 50 h waiting time, which could be ascribed to a high-density pining trap, resulting in the increment of ML intensity and ML intensity maintenance ratio.