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.
Authors
- Shude Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8983-2097)
- Jiawei Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6781-3581)
- Jianhua Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4574-1243)
- M.L. Zhang
- Weiyan Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7855-6329)
- Chenhao Ding
- Xinyu Li
- Qian Liu
- Xinyi Wang
- Liyuan Fu
Institutions
- Donghua University (CN)
- Jiaxing University (CN)
- Zhejiang Institute of Modern Textile Industry (CN)
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
- 0.00