NIT-Rourkela team develops safer alternatives to lead-based materials

Bhubaneswar, Oct 28 (UNI) NIT Rourkela researchers, in collaboration with scientists from IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay and NISER Bhubaneswar, have developed lead-free materials that switch their light-emission properties in response to changes in heat and moisture. The team developed bismuth-based organic-inorganic compounds as safer alternatives to lead-based photoluminescent materials, which pose environmental and health risks due to lead toxicity. The material exhibits reversible changes in light emission in response to heat and moisture. When heated, it loses water trapped in its structure and emits blue light under ultraviolet (UV) exposure. On absorbing moisture again, the blue emission disappears, enabling potential…