Visible-light-excited robust room-temperature phosphorescence of dimeric single-component luminophores in the amorphous state.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38678049.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-47937-7 and PMC identifier 11055858.
- 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
Organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) has significant potential in various applications of information storage, anti-counterfeiting, and bio-imaging. However, achieving robust organic RTP emission of the single-component system is challenging to overcome the restriction of the crystalline state or other rigid environments with cautious treatment. Herein, we report a single-component system with robust persistent RTP emission in various aggregated forms, such as crystal, fine powder, and even amorphous states. Our experimental data reveal that the vigorous RTP emissions rely on their tight dimers based on strong and large-overlap π-π interactions between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) groups. The dimer structure can offer not only excitons in low energy levels for visible-light excited red long-lived RTP but also suppression of the nonradiative decays even in an amorphous state for good resistance of RTP to heat (up to 70 °C) or water. Furthermore, we demonstrate the water-dispersible nanoparticle with persistent RTP over 600 nm and a lifetime of 0.22 s for visible-light excited cellular and in-vivo imaging, prepared through the common microemulsion approach without overcaution for nanocrystal formation.