Reversible photoluminescence modulation in praseodymium-doped bismuth titanate ceramics for information storage based on photochromic reaction

Abstract Photoluminescence materials with reversible luminescence regulation properties have great potential for applications in photoswitches, optical sensing, and high-density optical data storage devices. In this work, a series of Pr3+-doped Bi4Ti3O12 (BiT) ceramics were synthesized by a high-temperature solid-phase reaction method. It is well known that BiT is the most famous one within the Aurivillius ferroelectric (FE) system. Previous works routinely focused on the FE-related properties of BiT-based compounds, but little attention has been devoted to the luminescence, especially the luminescence modulation performance. Here, a large and reversible photoluminescence modulation by alternating visible light irradiation and thermal stimulus based on photochromic (PC) process was achieved. Meanwhile, the influence of sintering temperature on the luminescence modulation behavior was also illustrated. The luminescence regulation properties of the Pr3+-doped BiT ceramics prepared at optimized sintering temperature were investigated in detail. The mechanisms connected to the luminescence, luminescence manipulation, and PC effect were discussed. It is believed that Pr3+-doped BiT materials can be utilized as a kind of ideal optical medium for future information storage device.