Cheap Phosphorescent Crystals Could Light Up TVs

Are you kidding, or are you stinkin' kidding? Since when are fireflies or anglerfish not organic materials that shine with phosphorescence? How is this the first?

Think you'll find that's bioluminescence, - not the same as phosphorescence.

Phosphorescence wouldn't be any good for a TV (or any other rapidly-changing display) anyway, as the light emission persists long after the UV excitation.

(Unless it was just used as a backlight, in which case I don't see any advantage over visible LEDs).

A matter of semantics?

phosphorescence
The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea | 2006 | © The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006.
A faint blue-green light emitted from the sea at night, either as a continuous glow or a series of tiny flashes. This light is produced by the bioluminescence of living organisms ranging from bacteria to the many species of plankton, including phytoplankton, especially dinoflagellates. On moonless nights in late summer, flashes of light in the surf breaking on sandy beaches are often produced by the appropriately named dinoflagellate Noctiluca. Bioluminescence is produced by a chemical reaction and serves a wide range of functions. Deep in the ocean where there is little or no daylight, almost every species has some light-producing capability. phosphorescence
The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea | 2006 | © The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006.

JohnDG -- I agree with the rest of your comments, though I think perhaps you mean 'inorganic' rather than 'visible' LEDs; as being opposed to organic LEDs, which are OLEDs.

OK - give you the semantics .

My reason for specifying 'visible' LEDs (organic or not) is that this material requires UV to cause it to emit visible light - so the UV's got to come from somewhere. Presumably UV LEDs would be used. This sounds like a lousy way to make a backlight!