Greatness in Simplicity: Efficient Red Room-Temperature Phosphorescence from Simple Halogenated Maleimides with a 2D Layered Structure

Anionic Hydrogen-Bonded Frameworks Showing Tautomerism and Colorful Luminescence for the Ultrasensitive Detection of Acetone

Tautomers coexisting in an equilibrium system have significant potential for regulating luminescent properties because of their structural differences. However, separating and stabilizing tautomers at room temperature is a considerable challenge. In this study, it is found that hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) composed of Br- anions can effectively separate and stabilize two proton-transfer tautomers of triarylformamidinium bromide: namely, the nitrogen cation (BA-N) and carbon cation (BA-C). The BA-N crystal consisting of a dense anionic HOF and parallelly aligned organic cations exhibits green thermally activated delayed fluorescence and red room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP). The BA-C crystal contains acetone molecules that induce an antiparallel arrangement of the organic cations to form a loose HOF, producing blue prompt fluorescence and green RTP. Interestingly, switching of the HOFs between BA-N and BA-C can be achieved through the uptake and release of acetone, thereby dynamically adjusting multiple luminescent properties. Consequently, the HOF crystals can be used for the highly sensitive and specific sensing of acetone with a detection limit of 66.74 ppm. This study not only stabilizes tautomeric luminescent materials at room temperature, but also provides a new method for constructing smart HOFs with a sensitive response to a stimulus.

Ultralong Red Room-Temperature Phosphorescence of 2D Organic-Inorganic Metal Halide Perovskites for Afterglow Red LEDs and X-ray Scintillation Applications

Organic-inorganic metal hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) have emerged as a promising class of materials for next-generation optoelectronic applications. However, the realization of red and near-infrared (NIR) room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) in these materials remains limited. In this study, a very strong red RTP emission centered at 610 nm is achieved by doping Mn2+ ions into Cd-based 2D OIHPs. Notably, the optimized B-EACC:Mn2+ exhibited a high quantum yield of 44.11%, an ultralong lifetime of up to 378 ms, and excellent stability against high temperatures and various solvents, surpassing most reported counterparts of 2D OIHPs. Moreover, the B-EACC:Mn2+ can be used as a red emitter for coating an ultraviolet light-emitting diode chip, exhibiting an observable afterglow to the naked eye for approximately 4 s. In addition, the B-EACC:Mn2+ demonstrates interesting characteristics under X-ray excitation, exhibiting X-ray response at radiation doses in the range of 34.75-278 μGy s-1. This work suggests the infinite possibility of doping guest ions to realize red RTP in 2D OIHPs, promoting the development of long-persistent phosphorescent emitters for multifunctional light-emitting applications.

Multiexciton Generation from a 2D Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite with Nearly 200% Quantum Yield of Red Phosphorescence

2D organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) show obvious advantages in the field of optoelectronics due to their high luminescent stability and good solution processability. However, the thermal quenching and self-absorption of excitons caused by the strong interaction between the inorganic metal ions lead to a low luminescence efficiency of 2D perovskites. Herein, a 2D Cd-based OIHP phenylammonium cadmium chloride (PACC) with a weak red phosphorescence (Φ_P  < 6%) at 620 nm and a blue afterglow is reported. Interestingly, the Mn-doped PACC exhibits very strong red emission with nearly 200% quantum yield and 15 ms lifetime, thus resulting in a red afterglow. The experimental data prove that the doping of Mn²⁺ not only induces the multiexciton generation (MEG) process of the perovskite, avoiding the energy loss of inorganic excitons, but also promotes the Dexter energy transfer from organic triplet excitons to inorganic excitons, thus realizing the superefficient red-light emission of Cd²⁺ . This work suggests that guest metal ions can induce host metal ions to realize MEG in 2D bulk OIHPs, which provides a new idea for the development of optoelectronic materials and devices with ultrahigh energy utilization.

Role of halogen effects and cyclic imide groups in constructing red and near-infrared room temperature phosphorescence molecules: theoretical perspective and molecular design

Organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) has been widely investigated to realize long-lifetime luminescent materials and improvement in their efficiency is a key focus of research, especially for red and near-infrared (NIR) RTP molecules. However, due to the lack of systematic studies on the relationship between basic molecular structures and luminescence properties, both the species and amounts of red and NIR RTP molecules remain far from meeting the requirements of practical applications. Herein, based on density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations, the photophysical properties of seven red and NIR RTP molecules in tetrahydrofuran (THF) and in the solid phase were theoretically studied. The excited state dynamic processes were investigated by calculating the intersystem crossing and reverse intersystem crossing rates considering the surrounding environmental effects in THF and in the solid phase using a polarizable continuum model (PCM) and quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics (QM/MM) method, respectively. The basic geometric and electronic data were obtained, Huang-Rhys factors and reorganization energies were analyzed, and natural atomic orbital was used to calculate the orbital information of the excited states. Simultaneously, the electrostatic potential distribution on molecular surfaces was analyzed. Further, intermolecular interactions were visualized using the molecular planarity binding independent gradient model based on Hirshfeld partition (IGMH). The results showed that the unique molecular configuration has the potential to achieve red and NIR RTP emission. Not only did the substitutions of halogen and sulfur make the emission wavelength red-shifted, but also linking the two cyclic imide groups could further make the emission wavelength longer. Moreover, we found that the emission characteristics of molecules in THF had a similar trend as in the solid phase. Based on this point, two new RTP molecules with long emission wavelengths (645 nm and 816 nm) are theoretically proposed and their photophysical properties are fully analyzed. Our investigation provides a wise strategy to design efficient and long-emission RTP molecules with an unconventional luminescence group.

Green Synthesis of Phosphorescent Carbon Dots for Anticounterfeiting and Information Encryption

Room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) carbon dots (CDs) have promising applications in bioimaging, anticounterfeiting, and information encryption owing to their long lifetimes and wide Stokes shifts. Numerous researchers are interested in developing highly bright RTP CDs using environmentally friendly and safe synthesis processes (e.g., natural raw materials and zero-pollution production pathways). In this study, we successfully synthesized RTP CDs using a hydrothermal process employing natural vitamins as a raw material, ethylenediamine as a passivator, and boric acid as a phosphorescent enhancer, which is referred to as phosphorescent CD (PCD). The PCDs exhibit both bright blue fluorescence emission and green RTP emission, with a phosphorescence lifetime as long as 293 ms and an excellent green afterglow visible to the naked eye for up to 7.0 s. The total quantum yield is 12.69%. The phosphorescence quantum yield (PQY) is up to 5.15%. Based on the RTP performance, PCDs have been successfully employed for anticounterfeiting and information protection applications. The results of this study provide a green strategy for the scalable synthesis of RTP materials, which is a practical method for the fabrication of RTP materials with high efficiency and long afterglow lifetimes.

Cluster-luminescent polysiloxane nanomaterials: adjustable full-color ultralong room temperature phosphorescence and a highly sensitive response to silver ions

Non-conjugated polysiloxane nanomaterials with amino and urea groups show persistent cluster-induced phosphorescence regulated by doping different small molecules, and fluorescence/phosphorescence dual responses to Ag+ in aqueous solutions.

Construction of a unique 2-D layered vanadoborate with water-assisted proton conductivity

In the present work, a new two-dimensional layered vanadoborate Na4[V12B18O54(OH)6(H2O)]•(H2en)4•2(OH)•3H2O (1, en = ethylenediamine), based on a [V12B18O54(OH)6(H2O)]10- cluster unit, was hydrothermally obtained and characterized. In the structure, the clusters...