Self-doping in ScOOH oxyhydrates and relevant temperature sensing exploration combined with lanthanide fluorescence probes

Abstract In this work, the electronic structure modulation of ScOOH is proposed, and the density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate the introduction of oxygen vacancies (VO) in ScOOH could generate the defect-related energy levels within the band gap. The following photoluminescence and chemical state analyses verify the existence of VO in the two ScOOH phases, and the temperature-dependent fluorescence investigation further confirms the thermal sensitivity of VO-related emissions. On that basis, a self-calibration temperature sensing strategy is demonstrated with a combination of the emissions of VO defects and lanthanide luminescent probes (Eu3+ and Tb3+), yielding a relative sensitivity of 1.33%·K-1 (173 K). The findings in this work lay a foundation for developing LnOOH materials by the electronic structure modulation and further broaden the relevant optoelectronic applications.