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Far‐red (FR) region (beyond 700 nm) lighting sources possess special potential for plant lighting. However, it remains a challenge to obtain high‐performance Cr3+‐doped FR phosphors. This study developed a FR phosphor, Ca1.8Mg1.2Al2Ge3O12:Cr3+ (CMAGG: Cr3+), using the cation substitution strategy. Under 438 nm blue light excitation, the phosphors display FR emission centered at 720 nm with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 91 nm. Benefit from the favorable match with the FR phytochrome (Pfr), the phosphor is combined with InGaN blue light chips to create a FR phosphor‐converted light‐emitting diode (pc‐LED), which is used in Italian lettuce growth experiments and it results shown in a 15% increase in fresh weight and a 6.5% increase in dry weight. Notably, supplemental FR light modulated its growth morphology. The results of this study will be useful for further research on novel Cr3+‐doped FR phosphors to meet the precise spectral requirements for plant growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cr3+‐doped phosphors are highly recognized in various fields for their remarkable luminous efficiency and spectral flexibility, including modern agriculture and horticulture. However, the shortage of suitable Cr3+‐doped phosphors for far‐red LED devices has inhibited their popularization in plant lighting. Herein, an innovative Cr3+‐doped phosphor Ca2YAl3Ge2O12:Cr3+ (CYAG:Cr3+), achieving a broad far‐red emission at 770 nm upon 450 nm blue light excitation is designed. The optimal CYAG:Cr3+ phosphor exhibits a high internal quantum yield of 78.2% and low thermal‐quenching behavior of 85%@373 K. Thus, the fabricated phosphor‐converted LEDs (pc‐LEDs) for plant far‐red lighting have a high output power of 33.3 mW and photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 11.5% at 100 mA. The potential of CYAG:Cr3+ in plant lighting is assessed by supplementing the far‐red lighting of Italian lettuce with fabricated pc‐LEDs, and the biomass of Italian lettuce is significantly increased by 33%. The successful development of CYAG:Cr3+ phosphors provides a high‐quality option for plant far‐red light devices and further stimulates the development of new Cr3+‐doped plant‐lighting phosphors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High entropy oxides (HEOs) have gained significant attention in multiple research fields, particularly in reversible energy storage. HEOs with rock-salt and spinel structures have shown excellent reversible capacity and longer cycle spans compared to traditional conversion-type anodes. However, research on HEOs and their electrochemical performance remains at an early stage. In this highlight, we review recent progress on HEO materials in the field of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Firstly, we introduce the synthesis methods of HEOs and some factors that affect the morphology and electrochemical properties of the synthesized materials. We then elaborate on the structural evolution of HEOs with rock-salt and spinel structures in lithium energy storage and summarize the relationship between morphology, pseudocapacitance effect, oxygen vacancy, and electrochemical performance. In the end, we give the challenges of HEO anodes for LIBs and present our opinions on how to guide the further development of HEOs for advanced anodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is very crucial to select appropriate plant lighting sources to supplement light for plants according to their different requirements for light during different growth periods. However, LED-driven plant lighting sources confront the challenges of long-term operation stability and modular light color switching requirements. Herein, red emitting, far-red emitting, and patterned multi-color emitting phosphor–sapphire composite (PSC) samples were fabricated by co-sintering CaAlSiN3:Eu2+/Gd2.4Lu0.6Ga4AlO12:Cr3+ and low-melting glass powder on sapphire plates. The phase, microstructure, and luminescent properties of these PSC specimens were systematically investigated. Notably, after 34 days of continuous operation, the luminescence intensity of the fabricated high power plant lighting LED device can maintain 93% of its initial integrated intensity, benefitting from robust resistance to light irradiation and thermal shock. Moreover, the emitting color of these modular high power LED devices can be easily switched by using different PSC samples depending on the light color need of the plants. All these results indicate that the PSC samples reported in this paper have merits of easy fabrication, low cost and long-lifetimes, showing promising applications in the field of plant growth lighting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing innovative narrow‐band green‐emitting phosphors featuring low thermal quenching and eco‐friendliness for white light‐emitting diode (WLED) backlights is a pivotal challenge. Benefitting from narrowband and low toxicity of green‐emitting silanized carbon dots (Si‐CDs), an efficient confinement and protection strategy through embedding Si‐CDs in mesoporous aluminas (MAs) is proposed to construct MAs and Si‐CDs composites (Si‐CDs@MAs) with superior luminescence properties. Si‐CDs@MAs phosphor exhibits green emission at 526 nm with narrow full width at half maximum of 51 nm, zero‐thermal quenching even up to 423 K (104.1%@423 K of the emission peak intensity at 298 K), and the internal quantum efficiency of 64.46%. Compared with broad‐band yellow‐emitting solid‐state Si‐CDs (S‐Si‐CDs), the thermal stability, photostability, and water stability of Si‐CDs@MAs phosphor are remarkably improved due to surface protection. The WLED backlight is fabricated with optimized Si‐CDs@MAs phosphor, which shows high luminous efficacy of 117.43 lm W−1 and wide color gamut (107% NTSC). Furthermore, this work provides the design principles of realizing stable narrow‐band solid‐state fluorescence carbon dots, suggesting its great potential for wide‐color‐gamut display application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cr3+‐activated broadband near‐infrared (NIR) phosphors, featured by the octahedral coordination preference and strong absorption in visible (Vis) region, have great potential application in nondestructive assessment. It is still a challenge to develop Cr3+‐doped phosphors with the tetrahedrally coordinated Cr3+ NIR emission behavior and ultra‐wide Vis–NIR luminescence. Herein, an unusual NIR‐emitting Mg2Al4Si5O18:Cr3+ phosphor offers emission peak at 867 nm with full‐width at half‐maximum of 237 nm due to preferential occupation of the AlO4 tetrahedra by Cr3+ as demonstrated by structural and optical properties studies. Eu2+–Cr3+ energy transfer is proposed to induce ultra‐wide Vis–NIR Mg2Al4Si5O18:Eu2+,Cr3+ phosphors with more efficient NIR emission and lower thermal quenching behavior of Cr3+. The fabricated Vis–NIR phosphor‐converted light‐emitting diode is expected to be an alternative to halogen lamp in hyperspectral imaging. This work reveals the luminescence behavior of Cr3+ in tetrahedra and demonstrates the application of Mg2Al4Si5O18:Eu2+,Cr3+ phosphor in hyperspectral imaging, which will facilitate further research on NIR and Vis–NIR phosphors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]