Probing into the conduction band and type of carriers/traps on red/orange persistent phosphors in vacancy & solid-solution induced (Sr/Ba)<subscript>1−x</subscript>Ca<subscript>x</subscript>Ge<subscript>4−y</subscript>O<subscript>9</subscript>:Mn<superscript>2+</superscript>.

Long-wavelength afterglow has been a key issue in the investigation of afterglow materials. Herein, the orange/red (Sr/Ba)1−xCaxGe4−yO9:0.01Mn2+ is prepared by the introduction of vacancy induction and solid solution. The (Sr/Ba)Ge4O9:Mn2+ hardly possesses an afterglow phenomenon and exhibits only red/orange photo-luminescence (PL) attributed to the d–d transition of Mn2+, while samples with reduction of the Ge4+ content and with replacement by Ca2+ show bright afterglow emission with the peak located at about 612 nm/620 nm. The emerging broadband peak comes from charge transfer involving Mn2+ and nearby defect clusters and the bottom of the conduction band (CB). The introduction of V′′′′Ge creates a defective energy level above the valence band, but the ground state energy difference with Mn2+ is too large (>1 eV) to allow hole transfer, which was confirmed by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), spherical aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy (AC-STEM), charge differential density (CDD) analysis, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis, etc. With this achievement, we propose an original design strategy for long-wavelength afterglow and a more reasonable afterglow mechanism, which is of great importance for the investigation of long-wavelength afterglow materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]