Highly emissive zero-dimensional antimony halide for anti-counterfeiting and confidential information encryption-decryption

Storage and protection of confidential information is an increasing challenge for global digital economy, which stimulates the never-ending pursuit of high-security technology to prevent information forgery and leakage. Herein, we develop a novel approach to realize controllable information encryption-decryption based on reversible photoluminescence (PL) on/off switch in 0D hybrid antimony halide. A new 0D [DPA](3)SbCl6 (DPA = dipropylamine) was designed as broadband green light emitter with near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield. Benefiting from invisible and non-luminescent superiorities of SbCl3, information encrypted by SbCl3 pattern can't be directly decoded upon common light excitations. Under the trigger of [DPA]Cl salt, superfast transition from SbCl3 to [DPA](3)SbCl6 gives rise to highly efficient emission and thus effective information decoding. Subsequently, through methanol impregnation and desolvation strategy, luminescence of [DPA](3)SbCl6 can be easily quenched and recovered resulting in reversible PL on/off switching. The multiple and controllable PL emission conversion provides a dual-mode confidential information encryption-decryption technology.