Zhao Zihao, Cai Yusong, Zhang Qiang, Li Anze, Zhu Tianwen, Chen Xiaohong, Yuan Wang Zhang
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Jun 13;15(1):5054. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48728-w.
Photoluminescence (PL) colour-changing materials in response to photostimulus play an increasingly significant role in intelligent applications for their programmability. Nevertheless, current research mainly focuses on photochemical processes, with less attention to PL transformation through uniform aggregation mode adjustment. Here we show photochromic luminescence in organic crystals (e.g. dimethyl terephthalate) with PL varying from dark blue to purple, then to bright orange-red, and finally to red. This change is attributed to the emergence of clusters with red emission, which is barely achieved in single-benzene-based structures, thanks to the subtle molecular rearrangements prompted by light. Crucial to this process are the through-space electron interactions among molecules and moderate short contacts between ester groups. The irradiated crystals exhibit reversible PL transformation upon sufficient relaxation, showing promising applications in information storage and smart optoelectronic devices. This research contributes to the development of smart photochromic luminescent materials with significant PL colour transformations through molecular rearrangement.
响应光刺激的光致发光(PL)变色材料因其可编程性在智能应用中发挥着越来越重要的作用。然而,目前的研究主要集中在光化学过程,较少关注通过均匀聚集模式调整实现的PL转变。在此,我们展示了有机晶体(如对苯二甲酸二甲酯)中的光致变色发光,其PL从深蓝色变为紫色,再变为亮橙红色,最后变为红色。这种变化归因于具有红色发射的聚集体的出现,这在单苯结构中几乎无法实现,这得益于光引发的微妙分子重排。这一过程的关键是分子间的空间电子相互作用以及酯基之间适度的短程接触。经辐照的晶体在充分弛豫后表现出可逆的PL转变,在信息存储和智能光电器件中显示出广阔的应用前景。这项研究通过分子重排为具有显著PL颜色转变的智能光致变色发光材料的开发做出了贡献。