Comparison of the triboluminescent properties for europium tetrakis and ZnS:Mn powders

In 2006, some authors determined that the triboluminescence (TL) of manganese-doped zinc sulfide (ZnS:Mn) increases with increasing impact velocity. In 2011, the authors discovered a method of synthesizing europium dibenzoylmethide triethylammonium (EuD4TEA) that produced TL 106% greater than ZnS:Mn. In fact, this material is bright enough to be seen in daylight. This paper investigates the effects of increasing impact energy on the TL of EUD4TEA and various grain sizes of ZnS:Mn using a drop tower. The low energy results indicate that increasing impact energy can increase the triboluminescent light yield for impact energies up to 1.4 J, the upper limit of the drop tower. The minimum activation energies required for each material are also explored. In addition, the effects of the increasing impact energy on the triboluminescent decay time are also investigated. The details of the experimental setup, synthesis of EuD4TEA, and results are discussed in this paper.