Luminescent Properties of Sulfide Glass-Ceramics: Mechanisms, Doping Regulation and Application Progress

Sulfide glass-ceramics have emerged as a research hotspot in high-efficiency luminescent materials due to the low phonon energy advantage of sulfide crystalline phases. They integrate the engineering merits of glass, such as easy forming and processability, with the excellent luminescent properties of crystals. Therefore, the systematic study of their related properties holds important scientific and application value for the development of optoelectronic devices. Based on a biphasic structure composed of glass and crystalline phases, the luminescent properties of these materials are jointly affected by crystallite size, glass-crystallite interface, crystalline phase purity and doping site distribution. They can be classified by the composition of crystalline phases, type of luminescent centers and excitation mode, with emission intensity, quantum yield and other parameters serving as the core evaluation indices for their luminescent performance. Their luminescence is divided into intrinsic and doped luminescence: the former is dominated by exciton and defect luminescence of CdS crystallites, which is regulated by the quantum confinement effect and defect types; the latter centers on rare earth, transition metal ion doping and quantum dot/rare earth composite doping, with site regulation, energy transfer, concentration quenching and crystalline phase structure regulation as the key optimization mechanisms that require the synergistic matching of multiple parameters. At present, such materials have exhibited application potential in the fields of near-infrared solid-state lighting, optical information storage, temperature sensing, white light illumination and so on, showing the developmental characteristics of being device-oriented, scenario-specific and capable of dynamic modulation. Meanwhile, the research still faces several challenges, including insufficient chemical stability of CdS-based materials, easy concentration quenching caused by high-concentration rare earth doping, environmental issues of PbS-based systems, and unclear interfacial energy transfer mechanism. Future research needs to focus on these key problems to promote the evolution of sulfide glass-ceramics from material exploration to high-performance device application.