10‐ppb Trace Doping in Boron Oxide Resolves Purity Paradox for Programmable Time‐Dependent Phosphorescent Color
The development of eco-friendly time-dependent phosphorescent color (TDPC) materials faces a critical paradox: Boron oxide (B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) derived from commercial boric acid (B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-<sub>CBA</sub>) exhibits stable room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) regardless of purity, while ultrapure synthetic analogs remain non-emissive. Here, this dilemma is resolved by engineering carbon dots (CDs) doped into B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-<sub>CBA</sub> at ultralow concentrations (10 ppb), achieving programmable TDPC through three breakthroughs. Synergistic host-guest confinement amplifies green RTP efficiency by an order of magnitude enhancement while activating yellow guest emission; Defect-mediated exciton transfer extends RTP lifetimes to 304 ms, doubling B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-<sub>CBA</sub>; Time-resolved chromatic evolution (Δλ = 65 nm) emerges exclusively in doped systems, enabled by bifurcated decay kinetics from dual confinement mechanisms. The CDs@B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> exhibits remarkable stability in harsh liquids, overcoming stability barriers for encryption applications. This ppb-level doping strategy circumvents purity debates while preserving host crystallinity-a critical advance toward scalable anti-counterfeiting tags and bioimaging probes with programmable temporal-color responses.
Authors
- Ruixing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7517-908X)
- Xianggui Kong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2195-268X)
- Wenying Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2109-2069)
- Yi Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7401-534X)
- Liping Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8606-9257)
- Xiaoqing Cao
- Jing Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9377-1626)
Institutions
- Beijing University of Chemical Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2025-07-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202506207
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Luminescence and Fluorescent Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.04
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality