Multiple hydrogen-bonding induced nonconventional red fluorescence emission in hydrogels.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38664408.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-47880-7 and PMC identifier 11045767.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The development of unconventional long-wavelength fluorescent polymer hydrogels without using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or extended π-conjugation is a fundamental challenge in luminescent materials owing to a lack of understanding regarding the spatial interactions induced inherent clustering-triggered emission under water-rich conditions. Inspired by the color change of protein astaxanthin as a result of heat-induced denaturation, we propose a thermodynamically driven strategy to develop red fluorescence (~610 nm) by boiling multiple hydrogen-bonded poly(N-acryloylsemicarbazide) hydrogels in a water bath. We reveal that thermodynamically driven conformational changes of polymer chains from isolated hydrogen bonding donor-acceptor structures to through-space interaction structures induce intrinsic fluorescence shifts from blue to red during clustering-triggered emission. The proposed multiple hydrogen-bonding supramolecular hydrogel shows good fluorescence stability, mechanical robustness, and 3D printability for customizable shaping. We provide a viable method to prepare nonconventional long-wavelength fluorescent hydrogels towards soft fluorescent devices without initially introducing any fluorescent components.