[bountyhunter113]

Hi everyone.

I am a highschool student (currently the age of 16), and i have recently become increasingly interested in chemistry. I have a general understanding of chemistry, but my knowledge of the matter is not "in-depth". One of the many things i have been fascinated with lately are phosphors. I have done some general research on the subject and how to manufacture such phosphors, but some things are a bit "fuzzy" to me. What i want to do is to produce a copper-activated zinc sulfide phosphor. And so far i've been relating some of my research to this .pdf file from the Korean Institute of Energy Research: http://www.cnu.ac.kr/~energy/seminar/20040904/20040904gaytri.pdf . Obviously i have some questions. First off, would i even be able to produce said phosphor unless i have some type of industrial furnace which can achieve the temperature of 1100 degrees celsius? or is there an alternative way to achieve such temperature? Second, what is the point of the flux in the reaction?

Another thing i am thinking about doing is adding the phosphor to ink, in order to create a glow-in-the-dark type ink. Again i have more questions. What would be a good binder to use to suspend the phosphor in the base? would i even need a binder? What would be a good solvent to use as the base? Also, would the dye added to the ink affect the phosphor in anyway?

Sorry if i am asking too many questions, but i am just very curious and interested in the subject. And yes, i have more questions. I also want to make ink that can resist all or most chemical cleaners. The problem with this though is the base of the ink; because usually the cleaner consists of the same base or some form of the base used in the ink(which makes the cleaner able to remove inks with various solvents), the ink will always be effected. I was wondering: what base could i use to make an ink that would resist such cleaners?

And please do not think i am just asking you all these questions because i want you to "give me all the answers". As stated, i have done a lot of research and some experiments dealing with inks and paints.

Some experiments I'ved done:
Made a batch of ink by thinning bitumen with naptha, then added dyes.
Added benzophenone to a batch of ink in order to enhance it's "fade-proof" properties
-tested it outdoors and the ink with benzophenone was significantly less faded than the ink without it
Also did a bunch of other experiments, but those were the most recent

-Thanks to anyone who helps me out, any links to any info that would help me out are greatly appreciated....Thank you all in advanced !

P.S. My friend is having trouble with a batch of pigmented ink he made, he says it's not flowing well through the markers he's using. He would like to know: does the granuale size of the pigment have that much of an effect on the flow of the ink though a marker?
-the marker he's using looks like this:
http://www.abmmarking.com/Refill01.jpg

[Borek]

You will need high temperatures - and that means such phosphors are rather difficult to made at home. I recall reading a book by Stefan Sękowski on the subject back in seventies, he discussed some recipes - but I don't remember the book title, besides it was in Polish...

[bountyhunter113]

okay well, i just asked my friend and he told me i could achieve 1100 degrees celcius by making some thermite. He tells me it would be able to heat the phosphor to that temperature.

Is it true i could do this?

[Borek]

Yes - and no.

Yes - termite is able to reach even much higher temperatures.

No - it is violent reaction, pretty hard to control, and making phosphors requires long roasting times in correct temperaures, not just heating the mixture in hope it will work.