Smart Semiconductors: An Overview of AZnOS (A= Ca, Sr, Ba) Based Phosphors, Multi‐Stimuli Responsive Luminescence, and Potential Application Prospects

Inorganic luminescent semiconductor materials doped with luminescent ions are characterized by diverse luminescence modes, high light conversion efficiency, and tunable emission wavelengths, which have been widely developed and applied in the fields of lighting, display, anti-counterfeiting, sensing, and biomedicine. The development of new and efficient host materials with full spectral coverage has been a long-term challenge in this field. In recent years, alkaline-earth metal zinc oxysulfides (AZnOS, A = Ca, Sr, Ba) have become an important candidate in the field of inorganic luminescence with their excellent optical properties. The "A²⁺" and "Zn²⁺" sites in the crystal lattice provide abundant substitution sites for the doping of different luminescent ions, thus exhibiting a wide range of optical properties and tunable spectra from the visible to the near-infrared. This review will comprehensively discuss the significant advances in the synthesis methods, optical properties of doped ions, and potential applications of AZnOS materials in recent years, especially discussing in detail the effects of rare-earth ions doping on their luminescent properties and the corresponding tuning strategies. Additionally, this review analyzes the future direction of AZnOS materials research and the challenges of converting the research results into practical applications. It aims to provide insights for the development of inorganic luminescent semiconductor materials and advance the realization of their potential applications.