Superelastic Subcrystalline Rare‐Earth Ceramic Nanofiber Aerogels Enable 1300°C‐Stable Upconversion Luminescence

Real-time noncontact temperature detection is critical for the reliable operation of specialized robots in extreme thermodynamic environments. Upconversion (UC) luminescent materials, owing to their temperature-sensitive emission, offer a promising solution. However, traditional UC crystals are fundamentally limited by both severe thermal quenching above 250°C and intrinsic brittleness. Here, we break these barriers by developing a subcrystalline upconversion ceramic nanofiber aerogel through an interfacial phonon engineering strategy. Our approach embeds active rare-earth nanocrystals within an amorphous alumina matrix, creating a tensile-strained heterointerface that softens local phonon modes and efficiently scatters high-frequency vibrations. This unique "phonon cage" architecture suppresses nonradiative decay pathways, enabling stable UC emission at the unprecedented temperature of 1300°C. Furthermore, the subcrystalline structure induces a higher-order sinusoidal buckling behavior, endowing the aerogel with thermomechanical superelasticity. The aerogel fully recovers from 95% compressive strain and survives over 1000 fatigue cycles, retaining >80% of its elasticity after 100 rigorous compression cycles under 1300°C thermal load. This work paves the way for noncontact thermal sensing in extreme environments.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-08-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.74748
Primary Topic
Luminescence Properties of Advanced Materials
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Superelastic Subcrystalline Rare‐Earth Ceramic Nanofiber Aerogels Enable 1300°C‐Stable Upconversion Luminescence

Shude Liu, Jiawei Wu, Jianhua Yan, M.L. Zhang et al.
Advanced Materials
Luminescence Properties of Advanced Materials
article

Superelastic Subcrystalline Rare‐Earth Ceramic Nanofiber Aerogels Enable 1300°C‐Stable Upconversion Luminescence

Shude Liu, Jiawei Wu, Jianhua Yan, M.L. Zhang, Weiyan Zhu, Chenhao Ding, Xinyu Li, Qian Liu, Xinyi Wang, Liyuan Fu
article en

Abstract

Real-time noncontact temperature detection is critical for the reliable operation of specialized robots in extreme thermodynamic environments. Upconversion (UC) luminescent materials, owing to their temperature-sensitive emission, offer a promising solution. However, traditional UC crystals are fundamentally limited by both severe thermal quenching above 250°C and intrinsic brittleness. Here, we break these barriers by developing a subcrystalline upconversion ceramic nanofiber aerogel through an interfacial phonon engineering strategy. Our approach embeds active rare-earth nanocrystals within an amorphous alumina matrix, creating a tensile-strained heterointerface that softens local phonon modes and efficiently scatters high-frequency vibrations. This unique "phonon cage" architecture suppresses nonradiative decay pathways, enabling stable UC emission at the unprecedented temperature of 1300°C. Furthermore, the subcrystalline structure induces a higher-order sinusoidal buckling behavior, endowing the aerogel with thermomechanical superelasticity. The aerogel fully recovers from 95% compressive strain and survives over 1000 fatigue cycles, retaining >80% of its elasticity after 100 rigorous compression cycles under 1300°C thermal load. This work paves the way for noncontact thermal sensing in extreme environments.

Advanced Materials
Donghua University (CN), Jiaxing University (CN), Zhejiang Institute of Modern Textile Industry (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
Luminescence Properties of Advanced Materials
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