MODEL FOR THE MOISTURE QUENCHING OF SOLID-MATRIX PHOSPHORESCENCE VIA THE YOUNGS MODULUS OF FILTER-PAPER

Experimental Young's modulus values were obtained as a function of adsorbed moisture content for filter paper samples with no absorbed salt and with several different types of salt adsorbed on filter paper. The Young's modulus values were correlated with the room-temperature phosphorescence intensities and room-temperature phosphorescence lifetimes of several phosphors adsorbed on filter paper samples with the use of a theory for the Young's modulus of paper and solid-matrix phosphorescence quenching concepts. Phosphorescence intensity ratios changed much more dramatically than phosphorescence lifetime ratios, both with increasing moisture uptake on the filter paper and with decreasing modulus ratio of the filter paper samples. The changes in the phosphorescence parameters, due to the adsorption of moisture on filter paper, were caused primarily by alterations of the hydrogen-bonding network in the amorphous regions of filter paper.