Advances in Luminescent Glass Research Towards High-End Applications

Lanthanides and quantum dots (QDs) have attracted great interest as luminescent materials for various cutting-edge applications due to their outstanding and tunable emission properties. However, an extra-durable encapsulant material is often required as the emission features of luminescent ions usually degrade upon exposure to oxygen, moisture, and light. At this point, glasses have taken the center stage with their extraordinary properties including thermal, chemical, and mechanical durability, high recyclability, low cost, and simple manufacturing methods. In addition, the excellent lanthanide ion solubility and homogeneous QD size distribution ability of glasses make them promising candidates as stable and highly efficient color converters. Therefore, in this book chapter, an introduction is given at the very beginning by outlining the motivation, scope, and objectives behind the studies of luminescent glasses. The next sections summarize glass synthesis methods and highlight the latest developments in luminescent glasses for a variety of high-tech applications such as solid-state lighting and displays, security (anti-counterfeiting), optical temperature sensing, and solar energy. Each application is presented and explored in detail with a broad overview and references to up-to-date studies. In the final section, perspectives and conclusions are presented. The purpose of this book chapter is to provide brief yet insightful introduction and interpretation of the subject to both new and experienced luminescent glass researchers.